No, that's not my point. Laws are usually not just made on taste and preference. It's only when health or cost or danger issues arise--and maybe not even then. Combine the two, though, and I don't see why anybody is surprised.

When I was a kid, I learned that it was illegal in some cities to spit on the sidewalk. I thought that was ridiculously funny--and so did the reporter, it was a segment on strange laws. Looking deeper into it, though, I found that the laws were created (and never obsoleted) when spitting was much more common, and the results more pronounced. Had no one ever spit tobacco juice on the sidewalks, the laws against spitting on sidewalks would never have been made.

I can remember walking down the aisle of a grocery store 35 years ago, noticing a smoker leaning over the fresh poultry, disregarding the Please No Smoking signs. Nobody arrested him, fined him, kicked him out, or even talked to him. And I didn't really mind smoking myself, but I can remember thinking, wow there's some chickens about to come back to roost.