At least one better than the "freedom" to be a dumb-ass (this includes me), anyway.
Apparently it's been found that in and around areas that have forbid smoking in public places, mostly bars and restaurants, drunk-driving accidents have dramatically spiked. The reason, as with "dry" counties next to more libation-liberal ones, is that people are driving further to get their smoking-indoors-beer-in-hand fix where they can. Which means folks driving drunk longer (and pissed off for it) in places their less familiar with. This could have been foreseen owing to America's entrenched car dependence and lack of public transportation. And, of course, this phenomenon has probably gone unnoticed in big cities, at least initially, where most of bans have been enacted; a function of the inverse relationship of transportation in cities as opposed to suburban and exurban areas.
Still, it brings into question the logic and efficacy of neighboring municipalities, cities, or states enacting conflicting statutes. Essential to the gun-control/rights debate; one of the things that lead to both the voting rights act and a federal policy on abortion; and, though perhaps of less import, the increasing number of states legalizing to some degree (that to which they can profit) gambling. Those who espouse the diversity of regulations among states say this adds to the freedom of the citizen, allowing him to move between jurisdictions as his own moral compass dictates. However, reality has played out differently. As is the case with abortion, those who would rather see something done away with completely claim local jurisdiction, knowing a given region is repressive and reactionary enough to easily ban it. So to with those wishing to erase the inevitable scars of gun violence. (Funny how, for these two issues, the champions of "freedom" become proponents of state intervention.)
(To be continued...)
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