I found half a dozen spent bottle rockets on my lawn this morning.

[MineralMan]

It wasn't much of a surprise. Between about 8PM and Midnight last night, my neighborhood was a fireworks display. From firecrackers to aerial mortar fireworks the size of a commercial fireworks show, the sky was lit up and blown up during those four hours.

Our two dogs hid under the bed, panting. The cats retreated into a closet in a basement "bedroom." My wife and I vainly tried to sleep at our usual bedtime.

Explosive and aerial fireworks are illegal in St. Paul, MN, where I live. However, just 20 miles away, there are a few large fireworks retail stores in Wisconsin. It is legal to sell any kind of fireworks there, although setting them off is prohibited in Wisconsin towns and cities, too.

The St. Paul PD doesn't respond to calls about fireworks, really. So, there's no point in calling them. In fact, there's no point in calling about gunshots, since the dispatcher would just tell you it was fireworks on July 4.

So, there were expended bottle rockets in my yard. Fairly large ones, really, for that class of fireworks. There were a couple of them on my roof, as well.

I know which house they came from. That house puts on quite a display every year, and the homeowner there doesn't take kindly to suggestions that he forego such fireworks. I know that, because I have tried. He had a semi-auto pistol in a holster on his belt the time I ventured to suggest that he stop breaking the fireworks laws.

Very patriotic, those displays, I suppose. Fortunately, they didn't burn my house down.

So, when I mowed the lawn this morning, I just mulched the bamboo sticks and paper rockets with my mower. And so it goes, once again. There will be more fireworks tonight, on Sunday. What a waste of money on something dangerous!

[NurseJackie]

1. I have rude and classless neighbors too. You're not alone.

[marble falls]

3. I'm from central Texas the home of friendly, neighborly rudeness always served with a smile ...

and a lot of the time with a loaded semi-automatic.

[MineralMan]

4. I suppose most people do.

Generally, those who shoot off illegal fireworks in urban neighborhoods are not very socially aware people. The fireworks are just one more way for them to stick their fingers in other people's eyes. I don't loan tools to such people, either. I have lots of tools. They either don't return them or bring them back broken and complain about their poor quality after misusing them.

My fireworks-shooting neighbor also has a big-ass diesel 4WD pickup truck with straight exhaust pipes and no mufflers. On a side window, it also has a sticker that reads: "Too Loud? TOO BAD!"

I imagine that neighbor votes for Trump.

[hlthe2b]

2. It raged almost all night around here and this is high risk wildfire season...

I've had inconsolable dogs that would all but rip my hand off-- along with the leash-- fleeing--if we were caught outside when firecrackers started, but my current dog has been oblivious in the six years UP TO NOW. She spent the entire night frantic, salivating, trembling next to me and I was both happy to comfort her, but frustrated that I really could not. And, ANGRY!

[NurseJackie]

5. It startled the pee out of my sweet dog.

Fortunately, she's small with a small bladder... but still. It wasn't a good night.

It's NEVER been this bad before. In the past, there have been a few bottle rockets and firecrackers... but this year, almost the ENTIRE neighborhood (and surrounding neighborhoods) were shooting off HUGE fireworks that were almost professional-sized.

Where did they get them? Why now? (Covid boredom?)

[MineralMan]

12. Where I am, they buy them across the state line in Wisconsin.

They pay for them them with their credit cards and pay high interest rates on that money for the next couple of years. Hundreds of dollars go up in smoke at nearly every house that competes in the neighborhood fireworks displays.

[MineralMan]

10. But, see, it's patriotic to blow things up on July 4.

So I'm led to understand by the pitiful people who think terrorizing others with fireworks is a good idea.

[demigoddess]

6. it was after 1:30 am when it stopped here. In previous years we found tons of

bottle rockets in our lawn.

[ProfessorGAC]

7. Used To Happen Here

The pretend patriot that did it moved a couple years ago.
Since then, nothing.
We had some booms last night, but not bad at all.

[LanternWaste]

8. Fascinating

One might say riveting.

[Clash City Rocker]

9. Firecrackers turn a lot of people into jerks, or reveal that they are jerks

There was a Fourth where I had a migraine. The jerks in my neighborhood kept a constant barrage of fireworks right in front of my house until after 2 AM. I begged people to move it down the street, but they refused. I called the cops, who said there was nothing they could do. The next Fourth, I stayed at a friend’s house.

Fireworks are dangerous, and therefore popular with dumb and selfish people. They don’t care about blowing their fingers off, so of course they don’t care about other people.

[old guy]

11. For what it's worth, I feel your pain.

I live in Polk county WI and suffer the same fools as you. I have fought this with police, DAs, you name it. We have even left the house and drove around but you can't find a haven away from it. Now we just hunker down and try to distract the dogs with treats.

[MineralMan]

15. The laws don't get enforced because the people who

fire off those displays are well-armed, white, and the police are afraid of them. So am I, so i keep my mouth shut on July 4. It's not something I'm willing to go into battle for, really. Neither are the cops.

[old guy]

21. I think it's one of the reasons I didn't get elected to the town board in April.

I have advocated for a change in the permitting and enforcement process for years. Guess my past caught up with me.

[MineralMan]

22. That could well be.

[SWBTATTReg]

13. It is a big waste of money. You might as well light up your money out of your wallet instead, it'd

be safer. It's like a war zone here in STLMO too, despite fireworks being illegal in STLMO.

And despite the injuries too, it still goes on ... they had already something like 30+ injuries, related to the use of fireworks (as of several days ago, it is probably more than 30 injuries now).

Nothing seems to work, despite the injuries, despite the ban on fireworks, despite how much it costs (it's expensive to simply just blow stuff up w/ fireworks), and despite what the police said (they're going to crack down on the use of fireworks, a losing cause, being that way too many people shoot them off). And like some said in this DU trend, in some areas they are serious fire hazards. We've already some some fires specifically set off by fireworks.

Good to see you MM, haven't seen any recent trends by you lately, was wondering if you're all right.

[MineralMan]

17. I'm fine. I'm just busy with a work project that involves

a lot of research, so I'm reading instead of writing right now.

Law enforcement picks its battles, and enforcing fireworks laws isn't one of the battles they're willing to fight. It's easier to stop black people who have burnt-out taillights, I suppose, than to tell some white asshole with a gun to stop shooting off fireworks.

I know all of my nearby neighbors pretty well. The ones doing the fireworks displays are also gun-toters and angry, anti-social folks, generally. I pick my battles, too.

[totodeinhere]

14. My Labrador retriever hid under my desk but my cat was standing at my sliding patio

door looking out at the action while my neighbors set off fireworks. It's the same with thunder and lightning. My big bad dog hides and my little cat looks out the window at it.

[TheBlackAdder]

16. Yeah, I had a jerk neighbor who would fire them in his backyard every Forth.

.

Our houses were set back the same distance from the road, and some would be on the second floor roof.

Others would be fired towards the horses. Luckily, none went into the stables.

He would deny they were his, but we only had two neighbors, and it wasn't the couple who worked at Lockheed-Martin.

.

[MineralMan]

19. Bullies are going to bully.

That's the real thing that's going on.

[jimlup]

18. Tonight I will call the cops - I've investigated and

if I give the cops a specific address they will respond. I know at least of the major offenders address even though it is not on their house. It is illegal here as of 11:45 Saturday night. Thankfully, the stopped about 11:15 last night while the were still legal but if there are even small fire crackers tonight - I will call with specific information.

[indigovalley]

20. It was like a war zone in my part of Minnesota

I live in SE Minnesota along the Mississippi River so unfortunately people have really easy access to the fireworks stores in Wisconsin. It was just crazy in my part of town--way more fireworks than usual. I was surrounded by neighbors shooting off large fireworks within feet of homes. You could hear large mortar shell booms echoing off the surrounding hills constantly. There were fireworks going off everywhere surrounding me (big sky shooting type fireworks). It was like we were under seige. This kept up until after 11:30 pm.

Of course the moron across the street from me decided to set off large, shooting fireworks at the end of his driveway which was surrounded by cars parked in the street and neighboring houses. I am amazed he didn't start a fire. It was way too close for comfort to my apartment building. Flames from his pyrotechnics were flying into the street.

This same idiot had his young child throw some kind of "flash bang" type firework into the road--he could have easily maimed or killed his child doing that. I think he was drunk as he later got into a huge argument with his wife who evidently had concerns about him setting off fireworks so close to neighbors. He screamed at her that this was how he wanted to celebrate America's holiday. ..special fella...

[RainCaster]

23. Patriotic? Buying Chinese fireworks from Indians?

Yeah, about that...

[MineralMan]

24. Clearly, you think too much.

Such people are dangerous...(sorry, Shakespeare)

[RainCaster]

26. Compensation against the deplorables

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

25. You're lucky

I had my front yard set on fire several years ago by an errant bottle rocket. Was able to put it out with the garden hose thank God.

[SharonClark]

27. My condolences.

It wasn't too bad in my neighborhood but I did wakeup this morning to fireworks haze.

[onecaliberal]

28. I gathered the littler in my front and back yard and scattered it in the yard of the individual

Who thinks it’s okay to fire off illegal fireworks. I can see there is litter on the solar panels on my roof as well.

[Lulu KC]

29. With you

Now the neighbors who made a lot of noise last night are using their loud leafblowers to clean up their messes in the street. More noise. And smoke warnings this morning regarding air quality.
I am getting crankier and crankier.

[Niagara]

30. Explosive and aerial fireworks are illegal here in New York as well.

The Pennsylvania line is roughly an hour away from me. I'm certain that the PA firework stores made a nice profit since most of our city controlled firework displays were cancelled due to Covid-19. There were a few controlled fireworks displays like at the Transit Drive-in Theater last night, but that venue has limited capacity.



It's undeniably dry in our area as we haven't had much rain. I've been watering the lawn for several days before the 4th for preventative measures and hosed down my roof last night before the amateur pyrotechnic shows began. About a week ago, a house in the Niagara Falls area caught on fire because of an amateurs carelessness.



The majority of the booming explosives started dying down about 11:00 last night. By that time, I went outside to inspect my property and the the smoke and sulfur were overpowering. I didn't see anything out of place or damaged and then I went to bed.



I also don't understand why people spend their money and something that lasts for 5 seconds and that's extremely dangerous.

[mitch96]

31. On my morning walk this am I saw piles of spent paper rocket tubes. Burnt spots on the concrete

I like the idea of sweeping up the paper and dumping it on the offenders lawn... Here in gun town South Florida along with the fire crackers and aerial rockets there was lots of gunshots. At one point you could clearly hear automatic weapons fire.... Ahh Florida.. The news had an article about One asshole who blew off not his finger but his whole hand...... fecken ejit....
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