HERNANDO, MS (abc24.com)- Mississippi lawmakers are looking at a bill that would make it illegal to light up in workplaces, including bars restaurants and casinos.
One of DeSoto County's mayors is throwing his weight behind it.
Hernando is the seventh city in the state to go smoke free. Mayor Chip Johnson is adamant that Mississippi must be smoke free.
"We don't leave it up to the business owner whether to make their business handicap accessible. We don't leave it up to them whether to have a clean restaurant and safety standards for the food," he says.
And Johnson says it shouldn't be left up to businesses to decided whether to allow smoking or not.
"This is a health issue," he says. "It's not a biz decision."
One he fully supports.
"I'm not telling people not to smoke that is a personal and private decision. What I'm asking people not to do is to kill other people with their secondhand smoke," Johnson tells abc24.com.
Johnson says 510 Mississippians died from secondhand smoke last year. That's why he's spoken to the state legislature, urging lawmakers to pass a bill outlawing smoking in the entire state.
"I hate it. I hate the way it smells and it gets on your clothes. I just don't like it," says Vanessa Faulkner.
"I don't think you should smoke in restaurants at all," says Steve Ebers.
"I don't have a problem with it indoors. I don't even smoke inside at my house because my family doesn't smoke so I smoke outside. I don't even like it myself inside," says Tim Carter.
"I am a strong, conservative Republican," says Johnson. "I don't want people trampling on my rights. When people are smoking around me and my family, and people are dying from that smoke, that is trampling on our rights and we need to protect people from that."
27 other states have smoke free laws. Mississippi is far from passing this proposed legislation. It would need more support from lawmakers to even reach the senate floor for a vote.
