We probably didn’t give enough coverage on this blog to Kansas City’s ban of smoking in public places. Needless to say, the policy was enacted and is now being challenged in court. The Star has the story here. I will try to do a better job of following the case from here forward, although we did have an excellent general write-up on the issue at the beginning of the year.
I have always seen both sides of the issue, but because I worked to pass a smoking ban in the St. Louis County when I worked for Kurt Odenwald, I am not going to be a hypocrite now and come out against them. Especially because I see very good arguments for smoking bans — and if it were up to me, and me alone, I would institute a loose one in the county (i.e., some bars could opt out, cigar clubs could still exist, that type of compromise). Pretty much everyone else here at the Show-Me Institute will disagree vehemently with me, but, heh, this is one of the examples of why I am not a libertarian.
So, it will be interesting to see the result in Kansas City, because the issue will return to St. Louis at some point, and probably soon. You can put that in your pipe and smoke it.
