Fireworks

[Rageaholic]

Should they be legal or not? If so, where do we draw the line?

I bring this up because last night, I saw a pretty spectacular fireworks show right across my street. Fortunately, the cops didn't show up, but I've seen them pay a visit to other people shooting off fireworks. Like with other things, I've seen some strange enforcement of these laws. People can shoot off huge earth shattering fireworks and they won't bat an eye. But other times, cops will pester people for those little bottle rockets.

My opinion: I think they should be legalized. With that said, I understand why there's legislation in place. They are a safety hazard and probably not good for the environment, especially in neighborhoods. Regardless of how much I hate the police raining on people's parade, I think people do have the right to live in a neighborhood without rockets being shot up in the air. I just don't know where we draw the line between big brother government and common sense.

[AdminAssistant]

Firecrackers and sparklers...okay if restricted. But ground-to-air fireworks (bottle rockets, roman candles, etc.) should NEVER be shot off in a populated area unless done professionally. Beyond the issue of debris, there's too much of a risk of fire hazard. And when you're under a burn ban, as most of the country is right now, there shouldn't be ANY. At all.

[Andara Bledin]

What AA said.

Ground fireworks are much, much easier to control from a fire hazard standpoint than ground to air. Those cute little bottle rockets you mention are responsible for burning down houses from blocks away; you can't possibly keep them centered directly over your house, nor can you ensure that they go out before they touch down.

I'm quite thankful that I didn't hear the local FD (only a few blocks away from my house) roll at any point last night.

The assholes with the massively illegal boom-booms across the street, however, can rot in hell. I'm going to have to invest in either drugs or a safe-room for my cat because their drunken juvenile antics were rattling our windows. >_<

^-.-^

[Greenday]

It's pretty ridiculous that we can't play with sparklers in my state. There's just no sane reasoning behind it. But I agree with banning the launching of fireworks into the air. It scares the hell out of my dog. I don't particularly enjoy loud explosions these days. Most of these amateurs don't really know what they are doing. Sure they might know how to launch fireworks without killing themselves but they usually aren't thinking about the consequences of the fireworks after they've exploded. My county is still having water issues and having to waste water on fires started by fireworks won't help. We haven't been getting much rain lately either so everything is dry.

[Andara Bledin]

Honestly, the problem with sparklers isn't really the sparklers themselves, but the complacency surrounding them and the idea that they're perfectly safe, which nothing on fire ever is. With a little more education and a lot more supervision (never forget the bucket of water for extinguishing things and never bare feet), the vast majority of these types of things can be avoided.

Sparklers aren't legal here, either, but that doesn't stop people from acquiring and playing with them. And it also provides for quite a healthy black market in banned fireworks, a side effect that I'm not sure any of these bans ever take into account.

^-.-^

[HYHYBT]

Fireworks aren't normally available here, but there's a tent of them in front of Wal-Mart the week before the 4th... and I always think it would be funny to get some sparklers and substitute them for Dad's welding rods. I don't *do* it, because I have enough sense to know that might be dangerous... but I wonder if anyone else has tried it.

[protege]

We have a fucked-up fireworks law here in PA. Just about every 4th, fireworks stands start popping up everywhere. They have every kind of firework--Roman candles, skyrockets, all the way down to the usual sparklers and snakes. The fucked-up part? If you're a Pennsylvania resident, you can only buy sparklers and snakes. We can't buy the "good" stuff...which is oddly available to people from *outside* the state. They can buy it, be in possession of it, but with no consequences. Yet, if I'd walk into one of those stands, and end up with one of those items...I'd get into trouble.

[Greenday]

Yea, I can drive over to PA and buy all the fireworks I want. But my friends who live there can't...Not only that, but NJ cops heavily patrol all the major entrances back into NJ when it gets close to the holiday to try to catch people with fireworks.

[mikoyan29]

They just legalized fireworks here after years and years of them being illegal and it sounds like a fucking warzone outside. Admittedly, people could just go down to that state south of here and pick them up but our Legislature had to go mess up things that were working just. Now cities are reviewing their ordinances to stop assholes from shooting them off at all hours of the night.

And that's after allowing folks to ride motorcycles helmetless after having years of helmet laws. I just hope that those assholes don't fall under the Unlimited Medical coverage after an accident...but I'm sure the "free market" folks didn't think of that....they don't like that part of our insurance law anyway.

[lordlundar]

Out at my family's cabin I witnessed a near tragedy. For Canada Day a number of people around the Lake were lighting off various fireworks creating a very nice show. The people a few doors down however decided to get reckless and fire off two multiflares without paying attention. The four flares from one blew back and the other one was either miss aimed or misfired because the flares from that skittered across the ground. The idiots just about burned their cabin down again.

[Nekojin]

Out at my family's cabin I witnessed a near tragedy. For Canada Day a number of people around the Lake were lighting off various fireworks creating a very nice show. The people a few doors down however decided to get reckless and fire off two multiflares without paying attention. The four flares from one blew back and the other one was either miss aimed or misfired because the flares from that skittered across the ground. The idiots just about burned their cabin down again.

Encourage them to take a wooden rowboat out to the middle of the lake as their staging area for the fireworks next time. With all that water right around them, what could go wrong?

[HYHYBT]

Yea, I can drive over to PA and buy all the fireworks I want. But my friends who live there can't...Not only that, but NJ cops heavily patrol all the major entrances back into NJ when it gets close to the holiday to try to catch people with fireworks.

Simple solution: you're allowed to buy them, so you do buy them... and then, rather than going home with them, go set them off with your friends who can't buy them.

[siead_lietrathua]

fireworks are legalized in my area, but i think you need a permit for each event. you have to let the local FD know what's going on and get their OK. if you live in a crowded place and want to set them off in your yard, they'll say no. if you live out in the podunk with no neighbours for several hundred meters, and have someone on hand that can handle them properly, they usually say ok.
when there was alot of teens still in the area, all the local farm guys would drag the families together out on one of the homesteads, have a massive bonfire and fireworks night.

edit:
what i mean by "handle them properly": most farms have at least one person on hand with a controlled burn permit that's gone through some semblance of a fire safety course. they're the one in charge of the fireworks because if something did go wrong, they would know what to do till the FD showed up.

[PepperElf]

Should they be legal or not? If so, where do we draw the line?

I bring this up because last night, I saw a pretty spectacular fireworks show right across my street. Fortunately, the cops didn't show up, but I've seen them pay a visit to other people shooting off fireworks. Like with other things, I've seen some strange enforcement of these laws. People can shoot off huge earth shattering fireworks and they won't bat an eye. But other times, cops will pester people for those little bottle rockets.

My opinion: I think they should be legalized. With that said, I understand why there's legislation in place. They are a safety hazard and probably not good for the environment, especially in neighborhoods. Regardless of how much I hate the police raining on people's parade, I think people do have the right to live in a neighborhood without rockets being shot up in the air. I just don't know where we draw the line between big brother government and common sense.

I live in an area where they are legal - even inside the city limits.

It's been said that our local fireworks put some of the professional ones to shame.


Yes there are risks with fire. But this is where personal responsibility should be a factor.

And of course, during times of extreme heat the fireworks are banned. Here, a couple of cities banned fireworks temporarily because of the heat, and then the counties (ours and the one south of us) banned it as well, meaning that even outside the city limits it was banned. This also included open fires not just fireworks. (Our grass was so dry it was crunchy)

Some people still shot them off anyway but they paid the price in citations. $50 - $500 per citation from what I read, depending on how bad it was.

Now that it's rained a lot I think the ban's been lifted. I won't be trying them out any time soon though ... but only because I'm in an apartment complex and feel that it would be rude (and possibly a lease violation - I'm not going to test it to find out) to start shooting them off in the middle of the complex.

But ... I've personally never shot them before. I'd like to try. I'm from a state that has a lot of "nanny laws". So having extra freedoms just feels ... like something I'd like to explore.

Not to mention the sale of fireworks really does support the local economy. So that's a win-win right there.

[AdminAssistant]

But ... I've personally never shot them before. I'd like to try. I'm from a state that has a lot of "nanny laws". So having extra freedoms just feels ... like something I'd like to explore.

Then hop in your car and drive out to the middle of nowhere, find an area cleared of trees (and I mean completely cleared of trees) and ask permission. No one, especially someone who has never shot off fireworks, should light them in a populated area just to 'explore'. That's a great way to set a neighborhood on fire and/or blow your hand off.