New York City Begins Banning Smoking Outside: Parks and Beaches First Hit

The attacks on smoker's rights have always been a sign of what is coming for the rest of us non-smokers, whether our vice be a beer, Quarter Pounder, a tanning bed, or anything else the local, state, of federal government defines as a sin. This is why I, a non-smoker who thinks smoking is nasty, stands up for the rights of smokers.

In the past few years we have heard more and more crazy anti-smoking laws. No smoking here, no smoking there, no smoking in your car with kids present... Oh the list goes on. Here's the truth, while government has no problem taking huge amounts of taxes from you when you purchase cigarettes, they appear to have a problem with the legal use of cigarettes. They are making it nearly impossible to smoke anywhere. As a non-smoker, I appreciate going places and not having a smoker hang out their cigarette in my proximity, I think the laws are really becoming an infringement on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness--especially when you consider the significance of tobacco in the development of the American economy.

In New York City, they want to make it illegal to smoke outside in New York parks and on public beaches. Soon they will make it illegal to smoke on public sidewalks forcing smokers to back alley ways where women are more likely to be raped. It won't be long until alleys are voted as non-smoking zones.

From CNN:

The city that never sleeps is moving closer to becoming the city that never smokes, or at least the city that highly restricts it.

Nine years after the Big Apple banned smoking in its restaurants, the New York City Council on Wednesday voted to ban smoking in city parks and on city beaches, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a written statement.

The council voted 36 to 12 in favor of the ban, much to the chagrin of those who think the government is overstepping its role into its residents’ lives.