What in the world is going on in the West Virginia state government? As if the campus carry bill is not bad enough, representatives last week displayed Islamophobic propaganda that made national headlines. Just a few weeks before, Delegate Eric Porterfield sparked outrage when he compared the KKK to the LGBTQ community. Now, the senate has passed a bill raising the smoking age to 21.

While this sounds good in theory, it restricts our freedoms. It hurts young people. It will most likely not stop people from smoking or wanting to smoke; as characteristic of teenagers, some may be more interested in participating in an illegal activity. If caught smoking younger than 21, people can have their licenses suspended or be fined $50 for a first offence. This is another clever way for our government to get money out of residents of the state.

The bill is now headed to the House for consideration.

What a wonderful juxtaposition. The senate must now vote on HB 2519, which would allow concealed carry on college campuses. We need them to kill this bill, but we also need the House to shoot down the smoking restriction bill.

Students may be allowed to carry weapons on campus, but they wouldn’t be able to smoke. Deadly weapons can be found in their backpacks no problem, but if cigarettes are also found, they will be in serious trouble. Cigarettes harm the smoker, but guns have the potential to harm many more people and much faster and more severely, too.

If our government is going to raise the smoking age, why can’t they raise the age to conceal carry, or to get drafted or to vote for representatives who hardly ever make us feel represented? If there is one thing our state government needs, it is consistency. Let’s raise or lower all the ages so they are all the same. Interesting enough, though, this bill allows military members 18 or older to smoke. If someone is below 21 and wants to smoke, they can just join the military. Problem solved.

However, there is one bright side to this bill. It considers smoking in a car with a child below age 17 a secondary offence, with fines of $25. Secondhand smoke is bad, and smoking is worse. If the bill would only solely focus on this, it may have more supporters. Children should not be exposed to smoking, but once they turn 18, they are considered adults and should be allowed to make adult decisions, including deciding whether or not to smoke.

“This is a bad bill; this is a bad idea,” Sen. Mike Azinger said. “This whole anti-smoking movement started decades ago, and it’s smacked of Orwellianism from the beginning.”

Some may argue that though this bill is restricting freedoms, so is HB 2519. This is not so. It is legal to smoke at 18 now, but it has never been legal to conceal carry guns on campus.

We should keep it that way.