Driving into Olathe earlier in the week, I was greeted by a large flashing highway sign:
Fireworks illegal. Happy Fourth of July!
All fireworks. At one time, at least, that included sparklers, though the police seemed to have enough to do that one day without crashing barbecues to confiscate sparklers from children.
Last year, I and every other driver crossing over the border at Brownville got pulled over. Police officers peered through the windows and inquired:
Are you transporting any fireworks?
Because just up the road a tad, over in Missouri, you can still buy things that blow up. Way up. They are illegal here, but according to the sign, at least, you can buy one and get three free.
Looking out for the public health and safety is certainly one of the jobs of local government, but does banning all fireworks really make things any safer? When I was younger, we generally only fired off a few at a time before moving to another location. Or drove outside city limits to set them off down some country road. A friend of mine took his out to a nature center because, well, there just wasn’t anyone around.
Looking over some of the damage caused by fireworks so far this year, I’m struck by a few things. Some people are just plain stupid. No law is going to protect a seventeen year old kid who sticks a firework between his legs to muffle the sound. Nor will it protect communities where kids are found to be driving about aiming them at people. But there were a few grass fires started, as well. And I think about my friend back in high school.
That “the laws don’t work” is not really a very good argument. No laws really “work” or there would be no crime. But do anti-fireworks laws and campaigns really do anything to make us safer over the holiday? Or could they inadvertently encourage nincompoops like the teenager mentioned above? After all, fireworks safety is rarely part of the discussion.
Granted it was put out by the American Pyrotechnics Association which has an obvious interest in the sale of and use of fireworks, but I think they make a good point about safety education.
The NFPA is a powerful voice when it comes to public safety education. They have done a commendable job educating the public on fire safety and burn prevention with their other programs like Sparky the Fire Dog and Risk Watch. The APA believes that if the NFPA joined forces along with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, National Council on Fireworks Safety and fire departments across the country in promoting safety tips for responsible consumer fireworks use, that message would have a significant impact in helping to further reduce the misuse of fireworks. The Free Library
So what do you think? How can communities best balance public safety with the public’s desire to blow things up at least once per year?
And will you be setting of fireworks this year?
Either way, I wish you a Happy Independence Day!
LOL Dana, it’s not illegal to BUY the fireworks here, it’s just illegal to SET THEM OFF!!
Yeah, that makes sense.
I think they’re dangerous and shouldn’t be handled by kids. I wish they didn’t sell them in our state. They’re explosives, for heaven’s sake.
In the years I was growing up they were illegal in my state, Connecticut, so the idea is nothing new to me. You could barely buy a sparkler. Now they are for sale here (big ones) and people light them off but I don’t know when the law changed (or if it did). The bigger issue here is lighting a neighbor’s house or the woods on fire I believe.
I should have said professional fireworks shows were legal so we went to watch those, they are better anyway.
Who ever said government had to make sense? I think maybe they wanted the tax revenue or something.
A lot of states have actually stepped away from anti-fireworks laws in recent years, and I think I remember CT being on the list, though I can’t find the list now. At least some seem to be legal. Curious about the novelty items though. From my understanding, novelties are things like those little poppers that drop out prizes when you pull on the tube. Nothing is lit.
It’s illegal here too, but right over the border one can buy them freely. They go off here in our neighborhood all the time; no enforcement. I just pray they don’t get them near our house. And my autie kiddos have sensitive hearing. PErsonally I hate the things.
There’s some interesting info on how the founders forsaw the 4th being “celebrated” (hint, no beer or firecrackers were mentioned!)
http://liveandlearnonthespectrum.blogspot.com/2009/07/independence-day.html
Our former governor, Howard Dean, stepped on a still-hot sparkler stem barefoot when he was a kid and burned himself. So, all fireworks, including sparklers, were illegal in Vermont, while he was governor. They were made legal again as soon as he left office.
Needless to say, I am glad his presidential ambitions never materialized.
For four hours tonight, all sorts of stuff may legally be shot off at one of the state parks near here. Fire department and other emergency personnel will be there. Seems like a nice way to do it.
What bothers me most are the states where sales are legal but use is not. Where buyers have to sign a form stating that they will have the fireworks outside the state within 24 hours, ignoring the fact that neighboring states also have similar laws and that the closest legal place to use the fireworks might be several states and a few hundred miles away.
I have a relative who was involved with enforcing the laws on sale of fireworks and big fireworks displays for a few years. There is a lot of money at stake with these sales. The states get plenty in tax money and legislators get a fair amount in campaign donations from the companies involved in selling fireworks, so they are loath to change a system that boils down to, “Too dangerous to use in our state but to profitable to stop selling.”
But then, I have so many family members in the fire and rescue service with stories of fires or horrible injuries from fireworks to be anything but a terrible fireworks grinch. Big, well set up display or nothing for our family.
See now, fireworks being legal for the average joe to purchase and use is what strikes me as weird because I’ve never lived where you could just buy them & set them off… shows were put on by towns on Canada Day and it required permits, roped off safe areas, firetrucks nearby in case they were needed, etc… the idea of setting them off in the backyard is just so strange to me!
(sparklers – those skinny grey things – didn’t count)
The private fireworks set off in the driveways of our neighbors rivaled the professional display. Maybe not in the individual fireworks set off, but for duration, variety and noise. They’ve made a thick. gunpowdery fog covering the entire town.
Limited to this one day, I don’t mind it, but like Michele, I’d like there to be a bit more to the celebration than “Ooh, sparklies!”
Fortunately, none of our animals mind, and the children are fine so long as they are inside.
Last year we had a fireworks ban because of extreme drought conditions. That (temporary) law made a lot of sense, although my kids were very disappointed. This year, when my husband went buy fireworks, our friend Rick who runs the fireworks stand, commented that people were in sort of a frenzy after last year’s deprivation; “They aren’t spending more than usual, but they’re going for the bigger stuff.”
When people get hurt in car or bicycle accidents, we have safety campaigns. In October we see trick or treat safety projects, but we never see “Fireworks safety” being promoted around the Fourth.
I would think most harm resulting to other persons or property could be dealt with under existing law; shouldn’t purposefully aiming a Roman candle at someone else be treated as some sort of misdemeanor assault? In other words, if you are foolish and cause harm, the law should hold you responsible for that harm.
I liked the way the police here handled things last night.
They dealt calmly and quickly with the real emergency — the 22-yo about to leave for his stint in the military out drinking beer and talking on his cell phone who ran into the pickup truck parked in front of the neighbor’s house, injuring (but not as badly as everyone thought at first) the visiting uncle who was sitting on the back of the truck watching the fireworks.
They ignored the numerous calls on their walkie-talkies, or whatever they are, complaining about noise from fireworks. They told DH that later in the evening they would drive by neighborhoods that still had complaints to encourage winding the festivities down.
And, yes, fireworks other than sparklers are illegal here, too. Unless you sign a waiver saying you are buying them to scare away birds from your crops. Which everyone signs and everyone knows is a lie.
Nance
“Which everyone signs and everyone knows is a lie.”
This is the issue that I have with arrangements under which many fireworks are sold. I don’t think that there should be laws that create contempt for the law. Either let fireworks be legal (perhaps with a signed waiver filed stating that the buyer assumes all responsibility for the proper use of them) or if they are so dangerous that their use is illegal, then the sale (and the states profit from the sales) should not be allowed.