Private property rights will be nullified if Virginia Senator William Mims, a Republican, has his way. He wants to ban smoking just about everywhere except private homes reports the Washington Post.

A Senate committee voted narrowly Thursday to ban indoor smoking in all public buildings in Virginia, including restaurants, in an effort to protect people from the effects of second-hand smoke. [...]

Smoking would be permitted only in private homes, bars that are sealed off from other areas, private functions and workplace areas that are not open to the public.

The problem here is that Virginia has very, very few bars. ABC laws are extraordinarily strict, and licensees must maintain a certain percentage of food sales, and continue to offer food up until they get ready to close for the night. This law would effectively ban smoking in most restaurants.

The problem here is not one of smoking and non-smoking. Instead it is one of property rights. Anti-smoking Nazi's don't think twice about stepping on the property rights of other people. The most common argument is that they want to protect their right to go out to a restaurant or bar without having to breath your smoke. This is the biggest fallacy in the entire anti-smoking campaign.

First off, lets be clear on just whose rights anti-smokers are stepping on. They are NOT stepping on the rights of smokers, rather than the rights of restaurant owners. Restaurants are in business to make money, and if there is a large enough segment of the population that WANTS smoke-free restaurants, you are going to have plenty of smoke-free restaurant options. Laws of economics dictate that someone will provide that benefit to the public if there is a real demand for it. If there are NO smoke-free restaurants, then you should open one, and make a fortune catering to the smoke-free crowd.

The same principle works in reverse. A place like California, where smoking in restaurants will land you a night in the pokey, has a HUGE demand for smoking restaurants, and absolutely no supply. If you could disobey the law, and open a smoking restaurant, you'd probably make money hand over fist from smokers looking for a safe haven.

Second, there is a big misconception that restaurants and businesses are public property. In fact, they are private property that happens to be open to the public. Aside from discriminating against protected classes, business owners should be free to do business with whom they please. Mandating that business owners not allow smoking in their businesses is a blatant violation of their rights. The economic law of supply and demand should dictate the benefits that business owners offer to consumers, not the state legislature.