Last I checked tobacco was legal...until it is not, I say: <BR> <BR>SMOKE EM IF YOU GOT EM, BABY! <BR>

Slavery was once legal in this country too, so if course that made it O.K., right? <BR> <BR>Only when people challenge the status quo will it change.

Less laws, Give us back our freedom. The smoky pubs of Ireland bothered me, so, I did not stay in them. My choice. Don't make more laws, that is not what US is suppose to be about. Try practicing a little tolerance.

Well, to use a gun as the manufacturer intends, you point it at someone and pull the trigger. They will be dead. Gun manufacturers don't tell you to fire a weapon up into the air, do they? So its only purpose is to kill. At least you can say tobacco's purpose is to taste good (I suppose, as I've never smoked). Tobacco's tendency to kill is an unfortunate side-effect, so I think guns are worse. <BR> <BR>But really, who cares? If people want to kill themselves by smoking, let them. My only concern is finding a way to keep my kids from smoking before they are old enough to know better. Wish me luck.

No, no gun manufacturer in the world is going to suggest pointing its product at people and using it to kill them. Even if it's an assault rifle. That may be what lots of people do, but gun manufacturers can legitimately claim that they are not intended for that purpose. You can use guns for hunting, target practice, skeet shooting, etc. They do not kill people when used in those ways. Animals maybe, but not people. Remember, we're talking about manufacturer's intended purpose here, nothing else. You CAN use a gun without killing people. <BR> <BR>There is only ONE way to use a cigarette -- to smoke it. The manufacturer cannot claim any other use for it. It is a delivery mechanism for the drug nicotine, nothing else, and we all know by now that eventually it WILL kill you. The tobacco industry lost their battle to claim innocence about this decades ago. <BR> <BR>The best way to keep your kids from smoking is to help outlaw the drug, just as cocaine and marijuana and all those other "harmful" drugs are outlawed. Tobacco has special status only because the U.S. was founded on it.

Assault rifles are intended for hunting animals? Yeah, right.

It's me again. <BR> <BR>Tobacco, while I share your feelings about smoking, I just can't let you get away with this one argument. You wrote: "Remember, we're talking about manufacturer's intended purpose here, nothing else. You CAN use a gun without killing people." <BR> <BR>Well, you CAN use tobacco without killing people, too. Surely you would agree that 100% of the people who use tobacco don't die from it, right? So you CAN use tobacco without killing people. Odds are that using tobacco will kill you or someone else. Odds are that using a gun will kill you or someone else. After all, most people own guns not for hunting, but for self-defense, and gun manufacturers promote them primarily for that purpose. <BR> <BR>Why can't we agree that tobacco and guns are the only two products that are deadly when used as intended? Unless you are a gun lover. Then we'll never agree. <BR>

Last time I checked this was a travel forum. Please do not waste this space by voicing opinions that are not travel related. There are a few of us who actually rely on this site for helpful information not to witness someone on their opinionated pulpit.

Dear Please, <BR> <BR>Thank you for reading this thread and posting and bringing it to the top. I find it very interesting, so I would like to see it live on. <BR> <BR>Thank you for also being a hypocrite, as your post had nothing to do with travel. Oh, and thanks for being a control freak who has to dictate exactly what should be on this board. <BR> <BR>Sorry to be so biting, but I am just sick to death of people who post on threads that are obviously only tangentially related to travel for the sole purpose of complaining that the thread is straying from travel. If you think the issue is straying from travel, post something of substance that brings it back to travel and raises a travel-related issue. If you have no such thoughts in your head, please, for the love of God, don't post! The rest of us enjoy a good healthy, polite debate, and you are seriously getting in the way.

xxx, I'm with you all the way on guns -- don't hunt, have no desire to own a gun, and I think it's too easy for guns to be misused, just like it's too easy for kids to get tobacco. I understand your argument, especially with all the gun violence in the news today, but unless a gun manufacturer is trying to invite some big ole lawsuits, they are going to claim that every gun type has some purpose other than to kill human beings. If guns were made only to kill people and some lawyers could argue that effectively, they would be subjected to the same types of lawsuits that the tobacco industry now faces. Even if gun manufacturers are promoting self-defense, they can still say they are not advocating that you shoot someone, just that brandish the gun as a threat or deterrent. <BR> <BR>We all know it's BS, but they can claim that and get away with it, because if you are a responsible, law-abiding gun owner, your gun will most likely never be used to kill a person. Despite the media onslaught of gun violence, most gun owners are not criminals and do not shoot other people. The odds are NOT that gun ownership leads to shooting people. The odds ARE if you smoke for a certain period of time you will be a victim of smoking-related diseases. There is no defense for an industry that willfully, and at the present moment legally, manufactures a drug that is known to damage health and kill people. <BR> <BR>Thanks for your thoughtful debate. It's a pleasure to discuss a topic with courteous and intelligent posters, which isn't always the case on this forum. <BR>Maybe one day we'll see a Million Mom March against big tobacco.

Why are non-smokers(i'm one)so inclined to rant? It's because their anti-smoking hysteria is a way for otherwise unexceptional people to feel morally superior to others.

I am shocked at the feelings expressed here. I assume those of you who are speaking against smoking and guns are women. I know men just don't fuss over such things. Please ladies, let's take our role of mothers and wives back to what it was meant to be and let the gentlemen work out all these political issues.

rose, if you're a woman I'm the Queen of England. You're just a guy who wears women's undies and trolls travel sites. Get back in the closet weirdo. <BR> <BR>People rant about smoking bacause as the original poster here stated, it affects (i.e. poisons) not only the smoker but everyone around them, especially anyone who has the misfortune to work in smoke-infested environments. We as U.S. citizens are not a complacent lot and never have been. Take some of your own advice and ignore it if you don't want to read the opinions of the MAJORITY of Americans -- nonsmokers. <BR> <BR>Businesses should wake up and realize that instead of catering to smokers, who tend to be uneducated and of a lower socio-economic status, a smoke-free establishment will encourage a more affluent clientele who have more money to spend and would love to do so without choking on smoke from the plebians.

<BR>thorn: <BR> <BR>That's the last straw. While I sympathize with those living in states where it is still legal to smoke indoors, I can't let your misguided barb pass: <BR> <BR>"uneducated and of a lower socio-economic status" ??? <BR> <BR>I make $100k and have a masters degree in engineering. I smoke because I am addicted and too lazy and too stressed to even want to stop. So there. By the way, any time you want to take me on in an IQ test, let me know.

Dear ccc, <BR> <BR>It is a fact that smokers today are less educated and of lower socioeconomic status. Sorry, but I'll take your word that you are an exception. <BR> <BR>I'll also take your word that you are too weak to quit. What a shame. Can I suggest that you work at it, and then you can start battling your stress through exercise and sports instead of poisoning yourself? <BR> <BR>Just a thought. Good luck.

And all this has to do with travel...how?

Linda, let me explain what this has to do with travel. Let's see. Sometimes one encounters smoke/smokers/smoking when one travels. There. <BR> <BR>Please don't open threads like these, read them, and post on them if you have nothing of substance to say. Just stick to those hotel threads. Thanks so much for your cooperation.

"The best way to keep your kids from smoking is to help outlaw the drug, just as cocaine and marijuana and all those other "harmful" drugs are outlawed." <BR> <BR>Yes - we all see how outlawing a drug makes kids not use it. Please are you serious. If this was true, we wouldn't have such a large "war on drugs" and organizations like "just say no". <BR>

&lt;repeating&gt; And all this has to do with travel ...how?

Linda is the original poster and just wants to bring it back to the top by claiming to be bothered by its not being related to travel. Linda, Linda, I bet you've written most of the posts on this thread just to amuse yourself since you have so much free time on your hands. Silly girl.