Question: US fireworks laws

[canetoad]

Are there restrictions?

I was a little kid in the UK, then Oz since '65, Fireworks used to be for sale. In later years personal sales of fireworks in Oz was banned and operators needed to have permits.

There's still the odd bogan who finds some cheap chinese crackers, but it's not a huge problem.

Ps. Which civil liberty will it demolish by restricting fireworks sales? [sarc.]

[Kali]

1. local rules and regs

over all goes by states. no particular federal rules.

[captain queeg]

2. Yeah, state and local. But I don't think you can get M-80s or cherry bombs anywhere.

I remember when I was a little kid you could get those more powerful ones in some states but that stopped a long time ago. However you can get some pretty powerful mortars and rockets.

[leftyladyfrommo]

12. I don't think I heard a single M80 last night.

That's the only good thing about ladt night. It qas awful.

[RockRaven]

3. It is, in a quite insane and infuriating but typically American manner, very locally decided.

So not only does it vary by state, but also by county. And not only by county but also by city. And in the nesting doll set of federal to state to county to city, the smaller units can make a more restrictive but not less restrictive prohibition. So that's a ridiculous patchwork right there, to begin with.

And then add to that the issue of so-called "safe and sane" fireworks which were supposedly less dangerous and exempted from prohibitions once upon a time but increasingly not. And the laws constantly change, for good reason usually (becoming more restrictive due to increasing fire risk), but in an ad hoc manner.

And put all of that into a large urban/suburban sprawl which spans many counties and scores of municipalities as is typical for large metro areas like Los Angeles and San Francisco (just to pick two from my state) and the whole thing is a mess. A not very effective mess.

That complaint being registered, I did hear in the local news that some nearby police department arrested some people setting off illegal fireworks last night (the 3rd). So it is not that the cops ignore enforcement of these laws, just that there are too many people being scofflaws (on purpose or by ignorance) for the cops to really make a dent in the moment. It's a couple hour window on each of a couple days per year. There's no way for them to catch/punish enough people to generate a reasonable deterrence by punishment.

[Wounded Bear]

4. Most places have rules in place. Most are gleefully ignored...

so fires and injuries peak on 4th July season. It's not just tonight, either, it started weeks ago and will probably carry on for several days after.

Personally, I don't have a lot of Benjamins I can set fire to.

[Old Crank]

5. Don't forget

Many Native American reservations sell fire works. Well beyond the safe and sane level. I've been to shops outside of Las Vegas in the past as well as Washington state.

[left-of-center2012]

6. Where the heck is Oz?

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

7. A bit north and west of New Zealand. You can't miss it.

[pazzyanne]

8. Follow the "yellow brick road"?

Just kidding.

[eShirl]

13. Oz Trail, ya?

[dawg day]

9. There are illegal fireworks factories...

In backwoods in the Midwest. A boy i went to high school with was killed when one blew up. His summer job was building the firecrackers.

[Marrah_Goodman]

10. Depends on local and state laws.

[onethatcares]

11. here in Floriduh

you have to sign a paper stating you are using them to scare birds away from your agricultural fields.

I never realized that big parking lot was what fed the world..

btw

it's ridiculous how home rule only applies to what the legislature likes.

[Doc Sportello]

14. Almost all have laws and they're all ignored

Adults get to act like spoiled infants with no regard to laws or consideration for their fellow citizens - all in pursuit of their "freedumb".