As we understand it, District Court Judge Douglas Herndon’s ruling on the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act only grants a preliminary injunction against enforcement with respect to the criminal penalties for smoking violations. The act itself will be allowed to go into effect, but as a civil construct, not a criminal one. Smokers who break the law can be fined by a local health district, but not jailed.

In other words, a ban on smoking in bars that serve food, as well as convenience stores, grocery stores, restaurants, and pretty much every other place that doesn’t have an unrestricted gaming license, will go into effect as scheduled.

The matter will probably still be appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court, but we frankly don’t hold out much hope that the justices will reverse what they will see as the will of the people. (The act, which appeared on the Nov. 7 ballot as Question 5, got 54 percent of the vote.)

We opposed the act, and supported the lawsuit against it, for reasons that regular readers know all too well. And while lawyers for taverns and slot route operators made good points that the law was vague and applied unfairly, at the heart of our opposition was this: Those who wish to avoid smoking need only avoid places where people smoke. Alas, the American Cancer Society, American Lung Association and other groups disagreed. They apparently feel just fine with regulating everybody’s environment, and did just that.

Mark our words, readers: The battle doesn’t end here. Under the act, bars that don’t serve food, casino gaming floors, tobacco retail stores and (we think) hotel and motel rooms are exempt from the ban. But the smoke banners won’t allow that for long. They’ve already declared they want a smoke-free Nevada, and they’ll keep pushing for laws that make it so.

Have no doubt that Nevada has lost something with this enactment. Whether that bothers the majority enforcing its will upon the personal habits of the minority is irrelevant. It’s a loss nonetheless.