Day: July 3, 2001

This is very odd, but the Tampa Tribune reports that a number of cities are now refusing to hire anyone who smokes. The reasoning apparently is that smokers will cause increased costs as far as insurance premiums, health costs, etc.

At least in Florida this is legal for the moment. In 1996 the Florida Supreme Court ruled that North Miami had a right to ban the hiring of smokers.

What I don’t understand is how it could possibly be consistent for it to be legal not to hire smokers because they might impose increased health risks while at the same time making it illegal to refuse to hire people who have genetic defects which make them more prone to cancer or other life threatening — and expensive — ailments.

The obvious difference might be that one is genetic while one is a behavior which can be controlled by an individual. But if the only relevant criteria is whether or not a discriminatory practice saves money in health care expenses and lost time due to illness, then the distinction between genetic traits and bad habits doesn’t see particularly relevant.

I wonder how far cities will try to take this. Will fat people be the next to get the boot (since obese people clearly present the same problems as smokers)? Why not go even further and start excluding people who engage in dangerous or extreme sports or activities?

The Detroit News reports that thousands of people showed up to apply for concealed weapons permits on the first day of the new law going into effect. Not surprisingly, the News reports that the most active part of the state was Wayne County — which includes Detroit — where apparently people began lining up at 2 a.m. to obtain an application and more than 1,000 applications were handed out.

The real test of concealed weapons will be how it goes over in Wayne County which is a very strong Democratic base and would normally be likely to vote heavily against the law when it inevitably comes up for repeal by voters in 2002. On the other hand the entire city looks like something out of Escape from New York.

The Detroit News, for example, is located only a few blocks from the arena where the Detroit Red Wings play. The building looks like some sort of well defended compound you’d find in Beirut, with enormous brick walls topped off by several additional feet of chain link fence studded with features to prevent intruders from getting in.

If there’s any significant drop in crime in Wayne County over the next year and a half, the law might survive. Otherwise, a voting block of out-state suburbanites and Detroit voters will likely kill the law next time around (the same voting bloc was responsible for the overwhelming defeat of a school voucher proposal this election cycle).