Smoking is still legal - really I promise

A California bill has been proposed by Marco Firebaugh to prohibit smoking in a car with passengers under 18. I’m a non-smoker and hate the smell as much as the next non-smoker. I grew up with a father that smoked like a chimney. I hated the smell in the car and couldn’t get fresh air in the house. When I was twelve we were living in Juneau AK, where at times there were fire bans because cloud cover would trap the smoke, so even outside I couldn’t get fresh air. Durring that time there were two occasions when I woke up and felt like I couldn’t breathe in at all.

After graduating high school I joined the military. I was sent to in to get a fit test for a respirator to wear for my corrosion job. As part of the physical I had to blow into a tube as hard as possible to measure lung capacity. The doctor asked me, “Are you sure you’re not a smoker?” My lungs were at 80% of what they should have been, and I still think this is a stupid law. If this bill passes it’ll just be another form of random tax collection, like speeding tickets, seatbelt, car seat laws.

All we need are parents fighting a nic-fit with three screaming in the back adding to the pressure while they navigate through gridlock. This is bound to bring down the road rage!

Seriously though Smokers don’t just smoke in the car with their kids. They smoke at home too. What about all the other noxious fumes in the world like car exhaust and the “new car smell”, which by the way is created using formaldehyde.

Over the years it’s just slowly gotten stricter and stricter. First in the mid eighties airplanes became smoke free. Then there were designated areas at work places, now it’s banned in restaurants. Bars are starting to get pinched too. Bars!! Of all places – the place you go to get drunk off your ass. Why not just make smoking illegal, you know, like the other drugs? The war on drugs has worked so well for the rest of them. (Did you notice the sarcasm?)

Where kids are concern I think we should just stick to the basics: physical abuse, molestation, rape, and murder - things that are done intentionally to harm. What is the obsession with making everything safe for people we don’t even give a shit about? There are so many things that can kill us. We can’t control it all! We should have an agency that collects data, offers the information so people are aware of the risks, and the rest should be buyer beware!

Proposed bill would prohibit smoking in car with child passengers
By Alexa H. Bluth — Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 4:53 pm PDT Monday, April 26, 2004
California lawmakers are considering a bill that would make California the first state in the nation to prohibit smokers from lighting up in a private car when children are present.
The proposal by Assemblyman Marco Firebaugh, D-South Gate, has drawn the ire of Republican lawmakers who say it goes too far in attempting to police personal behavior.
Supporters, however, call it a crucial stride toward protecting the state’s children from the damaging effects of second-hand smoke.
“It just seemed to me that it was one effective, intelligent way to reduce the risk to kids,” said Firebaugh, who said that asthma is common among children in his home district in southeast Los Angeles.
Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy, R-Monrovia, called the measure “big brother government.”
“Government is going to raise our kids for us because parents don’t know what’s best? That’s a very scary thought,” Mountjoy said.
The measure would allow officers to ticket drivers found smoking a pipe, cigar or cigarette in a car with children 18 or under present.
For more details, see Tuesday’s Bee.