Illegal in my town, but legal and sold in the next town over, which is walking distance from my house. So we’ll hear plenty. We also hear them New Years Eve and when the Warriors won the title.
Cops supposedly try to control them, but one year they claim there were no illegal fireworks set off, which led me to believe that they spent the night of the Fourth in the basement of the police station with cotton in their ears.
In my neck of the woods they’re legal to purchase in Indiana and illegal to posess in Illinois. It’s kind of like how marijuana is illegal- it’s everywhere. Only no one goes to jail here for fireworks which explode and can and do hurt people.
Not nearly strict enough. California is a “Safe and Sane” state, and most cities ban them completely. That doesn’t stop the assholes from buying shit in Nevada and then setting them off in the street. Every 4th and New Year’s I have to spend the entire evening under the bed with the animals, who are having complete breakdowns.
In Texas, most traditional fireworks are still available - aerial stuff, roman candles, bottle rockets and the like, plus various firecrackers and sparklers. But the big bang stuff that I enjoyed so much in my youth - M80s and cherry bombs - are not legal. There are six legal ‘sale periods’ when the fireworks stands are open starting a week before the celebration day: Texas Independence Day, San Jacinto Day, Cinco De Mayo, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and New Year’s Eve. Counties may individually opt out of some of the legal periods. Most municipalities ban everything except sparklers(it varies a lot), but my home town has no city ordinance regarding fireworks and we just go with the county schedule. A county burn-ban for drought areas effectively makes sales and use in that county illegal.
Yes. Dangerous crap on every corner. And every idiot from town comes to deer camps and back roads to shoot them off. Which is just where I live. My law: no fire works near me or my pets. I will call the sheriff on your ass.
(I know I am party pooper)
All types of fireworks are illegal in my county, including “safe and sane” fireworks. That doesn’t mean people don’t have them or use them. I’ve been hearing fireworks go off near my home for over a week, and on July 4 they’ll be flying all over the place.
In town, fireworks only on the Fourth (or possibly the Saturday before if it’s on a Sunday), up until 11 PM. Users must be or be supervised by people 18* or older. Outside the city limits, no real restrictions other than those that would apply for other reasons (e.g., noise complaints). The exception for all is if there is a burn ban.
There is also an official show in town. This one may possibly be able to get around a burn ban, due partly do being done over lake, and partly to having professionals on scene to be able to prevent problems. But it may not–it depends on how severe the dry spell is.
*I think. I don’t remember the exact age. There may also be a strict young age limit. It’s hard to know, because, in practice, nothing is enforced other than the time limits (or a burn ban), and those are a bit lax.
Edit: Oh. you are including restrictions on what can be sold. That I do not know. I have noticed the biggest fireworks not being present, but everything I ever used is still around, it seems.
They are illegal in my county, but there is no enforcement.
I too live in the Chicago area. Yesterday at the intersection of Rte 83 and North Avenue (one of the busiest intersections in the state) I saw a stand set up to sell fireworks. They claimed a “huge” selection. We wondered if they had a large selection of sparklers and snakes, or if they were selling stuff they aren’t legally allowed to.
The stand looked like it was closed, and we were in the wrong lane to stop. If I get the chance I’ll stop by and report back.
Here in RI sales are limited to low level fireworks, sparklers, small fountains and the like. Sometimes they are the same package available elsewhere with a lot less pyrotechnic material in them. Sales are limited to a short time before the 4th so the stands that go up have to charge a fortune for everything in order to be profitable. A lot of people here go up to New Hampshire to buy fireworks anyway, enforcement is pretty limited.
Indiana is a “Hold my beer and watch this!” state. There are laws, I’m told, but no one knows or cares what they are. The first year I lived where I am now it was like WWIII on the 4th Of July. The whole week really. Last year wasn’t as bad. Still bad but not as. I am shocked at the apparent mega tonnage unleashed and don’t know where the super big stuff comes from. I would have been right there blowin’ stuff up with the best of 'em when I was young but having had a much loved pet that was traumatized by fireworks I’ve become an old curmudgeon about them.
To answer the question, Indiana’s fireworks laws were liberalized about ten years ago. Here’s the current regs but in reality you can light off whatever you can procure and nobody’s going to do shit unless someone gets hurt.
Rockport Missouri is a tiny little town on the border of Missouri and Nebraska on I29.
BUT, they have 5-6 BIG Fireworks businesses there. Some sell junk that barely puffs when it goes off, others sell Black Cat quality stuff.
I’m in Kansas City and on the Kansas side you cant buy anything good. The cops though tend to allow people to shoot them off on the 4th if they do it in their backyards and stop after 10. I know someone who got ticketed because they tried shooting them off in the street.
One of my favorite videos: The Redneck rocket launcher. It’s “killer bad baby!!!”.
[Joe Dirt]You’re gonna stand there, ownin’ a fireworks stand, and tell me you don’t have no whistlin’ bungholes, no spleen splitters, whisker biscuits, honkey lighters, hoosker doos, hoosker don’ts, cherry bombs, nipsy daisers, with or without the scooter stick, or one single whistlin’ kitty chaser?[/Joe Dirt]
There’s a fireworks stand on Rt 47 near Sugar Grove that is oddly large; like a good sized outdoor event tent and it appears to be packed pretty full. I also have no clue what they’re selling in there.
I can’t believe it’s a whole tent full of sparklers, snappers and party poppers but that’s what the law allows.
You got that right… The first year the “out of state” fireworks were legalized in Indiana one of my idiot neighbors was still blowing up stuff at 5am. I called the cops but they said there wasn’t anything they could do.
Last night someone was setting off stuff that was shaking my windows. The neighborhood I live in puts up signs that say no fireworks allowed but no one pays any attention. My poor cat won’t come out from under the bed until after the 4th.
Tacoma, WA: Totally illegal (although the fine’s a measly 250 bucks)
Surrounding cities: Either illegal or only allowed on July 4
County (non-tribal): Legal July 1-5; here and above no firecrackers/bottle rockets/roman candles/missles
Puyallup Indian reservation: No firing restrictions, but M-80s and cherry bombs can’t be sold (are they legal anywhere?)
Enforcement: very poor. In Tacoma itself, not much shooting but outlying cities/county is shooting off all the time the week before the 4th.
In Virginia, which is very permissive for firearms, fireworks are pretty restricted. Nothing that shoots in the air, I think we are basically limited to sparklers and fountains.
However, I spent last July 4th on a mountain overlooking a Virginia city, and for hours watched random bottle rockets go off over the city.
Here is a list of the cities (and unincorporated areas in counties) in California that allow them to be used. It is not clear if all of them allow sales as well.
My favorite 4th was in Chicago. Sitting on a rooftop in Logan Square, we could see all the fireworks shows on the lake, as well as the spontaneous ones at various parks nearby.
Here, anything that explodes or goes airborne is illegal. So we’ll be at a friend’s farm launching off all the doozies we picked up.