In New Mexico, cities and counties can impose restrictions on fireworks, but the state doesn’t have the power to ban them. The legislation to do so was introduced but didn’t pass - probably because the fireworks sellers have more political clout than the people who would like their houses and forests not to burn down.
Albuquerque and Bernalillo County restrict fireworks to ground only, but people can go out to other counties or to the Indian pueblos where their sale is legal and bring them back in. If you get caught lighting aerial fireworks, you can be fined up to $1000.00, and in these drought years, the fire department will come out and they will cite you. And if you’re in my neighborhood, I’ll call them and rat on you, because I don’t like staying up all night with the hose at ready for when some idiot’s bottle rocket lands in my bushes.
more than 1/2 to about 2/3s of the 48 states of the USA are under drought conditions. where there isn’t drought things are dry, except for recent storms to the east. fires get started from such small sources as bullets hitting rocks and dozens of other causes.
Over 25% of the US isn’t dry right now, according to the NOAA and USDA. In Florida, for example, they are so far above their average rainfall this year that some lakes that have been dry for years are filling back up. Abandoned docks on other lakes which had been left behind by receding waterlines are back in use.
That being said you’re correct that around 50% are in drought conditions and another 20% is considered dry. Always smart to check local conditions before lighting a fuse.
I found the OPs statement odd. Having lived most of my life in the Northeast, fireworks have always been banned (I hadn’t noticed that many were legal in Utah when I lived there). Here’s a map showing where fireworks are at least partly legal (blue) and illegal (red). They’re red most of the places I lived.
I always found it odd that fireworks were illegal in NJ, when they manufactured them in Vineland, NJ. Massachusetts police keep an eye on people going across the border to places like Hampton Beach, NH to see who’s buying fireworks there, then stop them as they cross the border back into Massachusetts (Moral: park your car somewhere else than the fireworks store, and don’t come directly back across the border if you want to avoid problems)
Nevertheless, everywhere I’ve lived, people have set off fireworks, and not just on the Fourth. On the Fourth, however, our neighborhood sounds like a war zone, and the cats hide.
Some friends of ours in CA were able to get their hands on absurd quantities of fireworks every year. Not sure where they come from and I was not about to ask. I do remember one year, seeing a stack of boxes in their garage with orange 1.3 Explosive placards on them in April and joking with them about getting a head start.
How about the law in Pennsylvania? It’s illegal for PA residents to purchase most fireworks without a permit. In PA stores they must make you show out of state ID and fill out a form stating that you will not transport the items to a state that it is illegal to possess. But the stores are right on the New Jersey border and they sell mostly to New Jersey residents.
Signs posted* at OKC, OK city limits cite an ordinance that fireworks are illegal in the city. Often a fireworks stand is erected right outside the city limit, with an in plain site police car stationed just inside the sign’s invisible boundary. Doofuses get tickets (and fireworks confiscated) all the time. It’s like they have dumbglasses on or something. In surrounding counties, there are some permanent fireworks stores, but I have no idea how often they’re open.
not on every road, tho. And I have not bothered to notice if the signs stay up or are temp.
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I wish they were illegal here. Things are so dry that my grass crunches underfoot—but I have no doubt the neighbor’s bratty kids will set off hundreds of dollars worth of firecrackers over the next several days. Unless, of course, they set their own yard afire.
Last year, Texas had a state-wide ban on “private” fireworks because of our drought. (Some professional displays took place–with firetrucks at the ready.) Not this year.
State law prohibits rockets. Local governments–like the City of Houston–can prohibit everything non-professional. Not that I won’t hear some pops tomorrow night–but that might just be gunfire!
Here in WA, most of the cities seem to have bans, but most of the counties do not. Therefore, we have the party out here in the burbs. I think it’s a good thing.
And as far as drought conditions go… We’ll just be glad for a break in the freaking rain over here.
In Ventura county, California laws vary. Supposedly they’re illegal just about everywhere but Fillmore - who makes a TON of money selling them to everyone. When I was living with my parents - where just about everything is illegal - you could see people shooting them off for days. Sometimes you could basically watch a fireworks show before the official one started. And it’d last for at least a week afterwards.
Every coupla years I drive from PA to Ohio to purchase my supply. After leaving Phantom Fireworks I always am a tad nervous, so I drive away from PA for an exit then get off, have lunch, then head home.
I remember our 8th grade school trip to a city out of state where small (sparklers, sky rockets, firecrackers) were legal. We could say that we gave that city an economic boost.
Small fireworks, used with some common sense, are pretty harmless, as long as you don’t use them on red flag days, shoot them at houses, etc. As usual a few morons screw it up for everyone else.
Non-red signaling flares (can’t use red for obvious reasons) have become pretty common, and I see a lot of people using white parachute flares for fun these days. Just make sure your shotgun doesn’t have a choke…
Nonetheless, this has never stopped my white-trash neighbors from heading to Indiana every June, filling their car trunks with fireworks at any of the fireworks stores just over the border, and then spending about a week around the 4th setting off endless sets of fireworks, deep into the night. Hates them, we do.
Ohio does exactly the same thing except that they will sell to Ohio residents. You must sign a form stating that you will take the fireworks out of the state of Ohio within 72 hours.
I don’t think it matters. They are illegal in WV, except for “safe and sane” fireworks, but anywhere you go this week will sound like a war zone. The law simply is not enforced.
When I was growing up in ND, they would be legal to buy but illegal to set off.
They wouldn’t just outlaw them because, well I don’t know. So what they would do is a day or 2 before the fourth of July Outlaw them for this year “because of the dry conditions”…EVERY SINGLE YEAR.
I’m positive there was some kickbacks/bribes going on.
Regarding purchases made in legal areas and transported to illegal areas:
I remember reading a newspaper article about the “illegal in California” fireworks for sale in Nevada. Most of the area around the State line between Nevada and California is unobstructed desert. Sometimes the cops in California position themselves in a great vista point overlooking fireworks stores located just over the State line in Nevada. They watch California residents make their purchases and as soon as they cross back into California, POUNCE!
~VOW
This isn’t true at all. Most of the state line between NV and CA is in the Sierra Nevada. For example, the state line passes right through Lake Tahoe. There is some desert, but it is mountainous desert except for close to Las Vegas.
Also, I am skeptical about your anecdote. Maybe it’s a county-by-county thing, but growing up in Reno, anything outside of sparklers was prohibited. The big stands you can buy explosives from where I live now I never, ever saw anywhere in NV.
Edit: Ok, I checked and it is county-by-county. But fireworks except for sparklers and such appear to be illegal in the most populated counties.
