Mayor Bloomberg Proposing Changing Age of Buying Cigarettes to 21
I’m really not sure whether or not Michael Bloomberg is going to be a popular guy in the Hamptons this summer. He has a house in Southampton in the Shinnecock Hills area, and I’m pretty sure that he’s really starting to rub people the wrong way. I’m certainly not in favor of his nanny state proposals. It completely turns a lot of people off to New York. I know of people that are actually MOVING out of the city because of it.
Remember the soda ban? Well here’s another one .
The mayor wants to make it a crime to sell cigarettes to somebody under the age of 21, not like anyone under 21 can afford to buy cigarettes in NYC anyway! So basically, a 19-year-old is old enough to decide if he wants to risk his life in war, but not old enough to decide if you wants to smoke a cigarette.
Here’s how, slowly but surely, smoking is effectively being banned in New York City. In 2002: Smoking in bars and restaurants goes illegal, in 2011, smoking becomes illegal in public places, in 2013, cigarette prices are raised to $10.50 and store owners are required to keep the cigarettes out of site. And now they are going to raise the age. When is this guy going to leave people alone?
I’m pretty sure that this law will pass (which by the way he was not in favor of in the past), because nobody over 21 is going to care one way or the other. I’m not in favor of it. However, one commenter named Arden on Gawker.com said something that struck me, here’s his quote:
2002: “No one wants to take your cigarettes away, we just don’t want them in bars and restaurants, it’s no big deal, just this ONE little thing.”
2011: “No one wants to take your cigarettes away, we just don’t want them anywhere outside your house at all. Ever. You can still HAVE them we just want this one little thing, that’s all. Just this one thing.”
March 2013: “No one wants to take your cigarettes away, we just don’t want stores to have them out in the open where people can see them, also we want them to cost you an arm and a leg. That’s all! Just this tiny little thing is all, why are you so paranoid?”
May 2013: “We want to take your cigarettes away.”
This is unrelated, but I want to say this last thing. These nanny state law ideas are growing rapidly. I know a guy in his late eighties who is in good health and extraordinarily successful that told me he is concerned that it will one day be illegal for him to drive a car because of his age. Did I mention that this is a guy who fought in War War II?
Unbelievable.