Arkansas currently has a law that prohibits smoking in the car with very young children. The law has been extended to include children under 14 years of age, claiming that it will spare children from secondhand smoke. The law includes all children, even one’s own. There is a $25 fine. IN California, the fine is $100.
Is this law too intrusive? What happens if a smoker takes his/her own children into the home? Is that child exposed to second hand smoke? What other bad habits will the state tell us we can’t do in front of our own children? How does this differ from a child seat law or a helmet law? Bottom line, is it any of the state’s business?
