So while the fishwrap blazons the news about Ed Coleman's measure to allow CCW in city parks at the top of the first page of the Metro/State section (for trenchant commentary thereon, see), where does it put the notice that Rep. Charlie Brown, D(umb)-Gary, managed to finagle an amendment into SB 175 to ban smoking in all public places except for casinos and horse tracks?
Well, top of the page, I'll grant you, but clear back on A25 in the Obituaries, 2 columns x 4 inches with a tiny headline.
Which is curiously appropriate, because that amendment ought to die the death of a thousand cuts. Hopefully the Senate conferees will nix it right out of the gate.
I have no problem with letting people with the proper permits carry in parks, and I don't even own a gun.
I despise smoking, and think it's a vile, disgusting habit. However I oppose the smoking ban, because it is foisting the views of part of the population on all of the population. A business, regardless of whether it deals with the public or not, should set its own smoking policy.
The different treatment of these two issues says a lot about the Indianapolis Star and its editorial agenda.
You're absolutely correct.
I smoked a pipe for years. For health reasons, I can't smoke anymore. In fact, I shouldn't be present in an even mildly-smoky environment.
But I don't own, say, the Elbow Room in downtown Indianapolis. If the owners there want to allow smoking, that's their call. If the smoke is too much for me, I won't go in; I'll find another place to relax. If their employees don't like smoke, they can find other employment. (I don't buy that smoke in and of itself makes a hostile workplace. You work for someone "at will"; you're not a slave who is forced to work in that environment against your will.)
The market can (and often does) handle these things much better than any legislative diktat. Which is why this provision needs to be sliced and diced in conference.
As far as guns in parks goes, I think Bobbi has eloquently summed up why our Lord Mayor and his pet Council are full of equine excrement. They make a good argument for the Legislature to revoke its protection of Marion County's grandfathered gun prohibitions and to enforce state preemption.