Ban the practice of mobile death chambers

Societies in the name of mercy seek out more humane ways to execute their most heinous criminals. Gas chambers were considered a significant upgrade from the horrors of frying someone in the electric chair or hanging until dead. The legal killing was through suffocation as the prisoner breathed in the deadly cyanide gas. There were no burns or disfigurements. There were no swinging bodies. Pellets were mixed with acid, initiating a chemical reaction that produced the lethal atmosphere in the confined space. The person inhaled the poison and died, but not without a struggle.

The gas chamber has gone the way of the gallows toward more compassionate methods. There were many crusaders who felt that the time between the gas generation and loss of conscious was too long. The feeling of being belted down while suffocating on the fumes was too cruel and unusual.

Unfortunately, it is not as unusual as we may believe. Every day, as we drive the streets of our fair city, we see gas chambers on wheels. Inside the sealed confines of a car, a child belted down is exposed to toxic vapors emanating from an adult's cigarette. The scientific data on the harm done to children and all other passengers when exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke are irrefutable. Diseases of the lungs and heart, asthma, chronic bronchitis and even cancer are all caused by secondhand smoke. During their lives, victims who had never on their own puffed a cigarette become ill due to the concentration, proximity and inescapability as they are held prisoners in confining cars.

This says nothing of a parent's love for their child. However, it does say volumes of the difficulties for some caring father or mother to stop. It speaks to denial, addiction and parental anxiety. It is easy to forget and light up when there are no societal consequences for their acts. Besides, the kids are crying, and there is highway mess, and they are late. Relaxation is a very common reason for a person to smoke in the first place. Why not in their own car with their own children?

The why is that the acts of a parent have a direct deleterious effect on their kids. Adults should not injure children. Moral values prohibit such acts, our various faiths abhor them, civil society is repulsed by them and the law clearly states the consequences when abuse sadly happens.