Fireworks can be dangerous. Whether the state should protect us from them would make for a fascinating and unpredictable debate (we MUST wear seat belts, but never mind the motorcycle helmets). But legalizing them would at least give us a coherent law, whether you agree with it or not. The current legislation, under which we can buy fireworks, but only if we promise to use them out of state, makes a joke of the whole idea of the law, sort of in the same way the belt-helmet stupidity does.
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It is popular at the moment to heap derision on the current law to try to justify the pending legislation to legalize the fireworks.
But if our representatives feel the law is foolish, they could more easily go in the opposite direction and ban the sale of prohibited fireworks in the state.
If you've ever been at one of those backyard shows with the folding chairs and watched a two-foot-tall rocket streak sideways three feet off the grass into the neighbor's utility building, as I have, the hazards of making these fireworks legal for everyone becomes a no-brainer. All of us spectators in our folding chairs realized instantly that the rocket could just as easily have hit us before we could react.
The larger fireworks are often made with explosives; a large percentage of the big ones use gunpowder or similar compounds. Legalizing these bigger ones will surely make some folks feel that they must be safe enough to play with.
Some will inevitably let their kids play with them (can ANYONE disagree?), some will invite their friends over to watch the bombs and rockets up close. Many people will insist on igniting these in tiny backyards, from the beds of pick-up trucks, or off their apartment patios (they do where I live) despite any restriction. I don't doubt we'll be reading stories about appendages being blown off, rockets setting a home or garage afire, and the occasional blinding or severe burn.
I realize there will be some responsible use as well (still not immune from the unpredictable, like our misfiring rocket). If the thoughtless user was content to blow only himself up, maybe it wouldn't be quite so bad, but the risk of innocent family or neighbors being harmed by negligence will unfortunately be high.
I'm a gun enthusiast and supporter of firearm rights, and I have no aversion to explosives carefully used. It's the many untrained folks who will be lighting a fateful match to these big bombs, rockets and roman candles that worry me, whether they live in my neighborhood or not.
It has always been in the nature of human beings for a significant percentage not to meet rational people's expectations for sane behavior.
Although I will agree with
All true, but if the larger fireworks are illegal, at least a person can be legally stopped in the act by law enforcement, and will have no protection under the law if held accountable for damage, injury or death.
> ...(we MUST wear seat belts, but
> never mind the motorcycle helmets)...
Seat belts and helmets are usually assumed to endanger only the person not using them.
Fireworks are the opposite -- it's the kids, the neighbors, and various kinds of valuable property that are most likely to be injured by the negligence.
It's why we let people smoke in private but not in places where others' health can be affected. I don't know anybody who thinks "firing up alone" would satisfy people with cherry bombs and rockets.