Decades ago, fireworks were legal, we bought them at stands, played with them in the streets.
Fast forward to more recent years: they are illegal where I live and in most cities around me, although not in one city that is right next to mine.
There used to be fireworks shows at local colleges but they don’t seem to do it anymore.
Last year: The illegal fireworks around here were out of control. It’s been getting worse with each passing year. I don’t mean just the ones that go way up in the air. I’m talking explosions that rock the streets and practically give you a heart attack, smoke everywhere, you can’t even tell where it’s all coming from. It was so bad that I’ve resolved to go stay in a hotel or somewhere out of town this year rather than have to deal with this wanna-be-war-zone shit again.
I am not against people having fun, but this is insane.
I wrote a letter over a week ago to the police chief and the mayor asking if there was anything that we as a community could do. Haven’t heard a word back.
The neighbors are all upset about this as well, especially dog owners. I am not alone in this.
So what would you do? Just make those hotel reservations now?
I think the OP is (at least partly) about how fireworks themselves have changed, along with their users. As a kid, we would set off a few packs of small firecrackers, a few bottle rockets and our parents would make us stop at a reasonable hour and go to bed.
Today I can’t tell whether my neighbor is setting off fireworks or an errant MK82 fell off one of the fighter jets at the nearby base. Sometimes at 1, 2 or even 3 in the morning, the shitwipes set off something that literally rattles the windows. This isn’t celebrating, it’s assholes enjoying being assholes.
They’re illegal in my city too. I am proud to claim one warning, and one large fine ($800.00) as part of my effort to help the local shitwipes understand the ordinances about their ordinance.
The part that bothers me most is how the season has expanded. The stands start popping up by late May, and they won’t completely disappear until Autumn. This means kids spending their allowance on fireworks all dang Summer.
I love fireworks, and always have. But we were given safety instructions, and if we’d put one off after 10pm the entire neighborhood would have been hunting us.
And I don’t recall ever buying a firework that was specifically designed to make a loud noise. Fireworks were supposed to be beautiful, not obnoxious. The vast majority of them just had a loud sizzle to them.
I live very close to Washington DC, Ft. Belvoir is in the neighborhood, and there’s a Marine Corp base not too far in the other direction. A LOT of veterans retire in this area because there are good jobs for ex-military folks. The specific sounds and smells that fireworks make are hell for many of them, and it breaks my heart to think of it.
Maybe it has something to do with the Fourth of July itself. The importance of the Fourth of July is that it exemplifies the freedom to do whatever is not specifically against the law. Now, everything is specifically against the law, including celebrating the Fourth of July.
Is your complaint against fireworks? Or against scofflaws who break the newly passed and increasingly restrictive laws against fireworks?
Maybe it has something to do with the Fourth of July itself. The importance of the Fourth of July is that it exemplifies the freedom to do whatever is not specifically against the law. Now, everything is specifically against the law, including celebrating the Fourth of July.
Is your complaint against fireworks? Or against scofflaws who break the newly passed and increasingly restrictive and arbitrarily imposed laws against fireworks?
There are several levels or steps involved with getting laws enforced. The people empowered to enforce them have to WANT to do so; they have to have the MEANS to do so; and they have to have the OPPORTUNITY to do so. Just like a crime.
If it really bothers you, a big first step, is to find out the details of what the enforcers have to know before they are allowed to act. For sure, if you hear a huge whomp somewhere, which you are sure is an illegally created whomp, calling the cops, even if they eagerly WANT to act, is useless. They can’t go around the entire area with “fireworks detectors” and nail the “criminal.” They would most likely have to directly witness someone setting the whomp off.
The trouble with most laws about things like this, is that they are written by people sitting in offices wearing suits. They say nice and firm sounding things, like "no fireworks that make a whomp louder than 90 decibels," but they often stop at that point, and fail to supply enforcement with any necessary tools or enabling powers, such that the laws can be effectively enforced.
I strongly oppose what are often called “aggressive drivers,” and they ARE against the law in my state. But I went to the police and asked them what I can do if I witness someone driving dangerously, and they said that wasn’t enough for them to act. Even if I supply video of the person doing dangerous and vicious things with their cars, they can’t add them to a watch list, or anything like that. They have to directly witness the bad driving, and sometimes have to see an accident happen, before they can do anything about it.
And once they do decide to enforce the law, there are levels involved there. Realistically (at least in my area), the first step with fireworks is the officer saying “golly, that’s illegal, don’t” and leaving. It won’t progress beyond that unless they see it happen again, and as you said, that’s unlikely.
Fireworks SHOULD be legal. There is something fundamentally un-American about criminalizing fireworks.
At the same time, however, it’s hard to imagine anything more fundamentally American than breaking the law in order to celebrate our freedom–something that, technically speaking, was obtained illegally. Most people today don’t stop and think about it, but if the Revolution had failed, the Founding Fathers would have been executed.
Where I live, most years we have lots of illegal fireworks. And I heartily approve of anybody who engages in such activity.
Sorry, viva, but your OP has a bit too much of a “get off my lawn” feel to it. It’s one night, and you can plan for it. Get outta town if you must, but sometimes the best thing to do is go with the flow and don’t fight it if you know you can’t win.
In our area they are illegal and the cops do drive around and will fine those caught setting them off. Although they usually dont say anything if its small and in ones backyard and its not past 10 pm. But be dumb enough to do a display in the street or shooting them off at midnight and they will fine you.
Southern California, right? Ayup, been there, done that, bought the deluxe edition soundtrack.
It seems to me that Hispanics, in particular, simply love to party with fireworks. Not only July 4th, but also New Year’s Eve, Labor Day, Cinco de Mayo, even Thanksgiving FFS. For Independence Day, the fun usually begins around June 20th, gradually building day by day to a fever pitch until the Fourth, when it becomes total Baghdad-style shock and awe. We’re talking full-sized MORTARS, the kind you normally see at a sanctioned fireworks show, exploding just a couple hundred feet above the house, low enough to rain down embers which smolder on the ground. Better hope you swept up those dry leaves.
I think the cops did crack down on my neighborhood last year, as the fireworks were noticeably less intense than typical, though still spectacular.
We used to go over to a bluff on the 4th that overlooks the city. From there, you can see at least four sanctioned fireworks displays. There were always people who bought fireworks over the border in WA and let their kids light them up, but they were low level stuff. The street is so congested with people that cops don’t even bother to try to intercede.
But then one year the ante was upped. People were setting off a LOT of stuff in the street and people who live in the houses along the street were firing off some serious air-burst stuff (where the hell do people buy this stuff?). The air was so full of smoke and the smell that I actually (and to my complete surprise) started to freak out a bit. It was reminiscent of Vietnam, and I told my wife “We need to leave. . .right fucking NOW!” We haven’t been back since, but can hear it every year.
Yes, this is what I meant to say. Fireworks themselves are not the problem. It’s people going crazy and setting off dynamite or whatever the hell it is, almost nonstop.
I’m sure they are patrolling but are overwhelmed here by the sheer number and by the fact that it’s pretty easy to run back inside the house or back yard and hide.
