Q: Does smoking e-cigarettes fall under no smoking rules, regarding gas pumps? I was filling my tank and the person next to me was filling their tank while smoking an electronic cigarette.
—Jackie Graves, Grayson
A: There is "no risk of fire" while smoking an e-cigarette while filling up with gas because "there is no smoke or combustion involved," Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, told Q&A on the News in an email.
“Unless a city, county or state has specifically amended their smoke-free air law to include the use of vapor products, vaping is permitted,” he wrote. “In the context of a gas station, we ban smoking for public safety … . The same justification isn’t applicable to vaping.”
Chatham County, DeKalb County, Pooler and Savannah have passed laws banning vaping where is smoking is banned, he wrote.
Q: Regarding the two officers who were killed in Hattiesburg, Miss. Were they wearing protected vests? Is this required in some areas in U.S., not in others?
—Eddie Webster, Douglasville
A: Police officers Benjamin Deen and Liquori Tate were wearing bullet-resistant vests, but both were shot in areas not protected by the vests, the Associated Press reported.
Police said Marvin Banks used a .40-caliber handgun to shoot Deen in the face and Tate in the lower back. The officers were killed during a traffic stop May 9 in Hattiesburg, Miss.
A 2012 Justice Department survey of 1,000 police officers across the U.S. found that 92 percent of them said their agencies have mandatory body armor policies.
Andy Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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