It’s a state where politicians have placated the busybody cowards that vote for them.
It’s like Prohibition was the result of busybody moralists being placated.
There have been police stings, if not prison terms, for a lot longer than two years now. My ex-girlfriend work at one of the fireworks stands for a number of years, so I got to see something of what went on. Every year they’d send undercover law enforcement around to all the stands to try to buy fireworks without a permit, and there’d be reports on the local TV news and in the paper about which stands got caught and which didn’t.
The stands did have some “kiddie” fireworks that don’t require a permit, but for the bigger stuff, they had to be real careful who they sold to. They’d sell to people they knew, but basically anyone they didn’t know they asked to see a permit. Every year the (county, I think) authorities cracked down a little more on illegal sales, charged a little more for permits, maybe reduced the number of days before the 4th the stands could be open, made it a little harder to buy and sell, and the number of stands around the city has dwindled from maybe 8-12 several years ago to 4 this past year (one of which was One-Eyed Jack’s, IIRC), and yes, there may not be even those next year.
Are there any statistics showing that states which ban fireworks have less fireworks related deaths, injuries, or property damage than states which have it legalized?
I know they’re banned here because they are such a fire hazard… but you know California, goes up in smoke every summer/fall anyway.
I remember when they were legal, though. Neighbor’s house partly burned down from one. Remember my uncle sitting there drinking Coors handing out fireworks while it burned.
Good times? O_o
Do you really need to be told?
Because you could shoot your eye out!
The Chinese calendar is lunar, I believe, so the parade doesn’t fall on the same day every year. This year it was on a very snowy Saturday early afternoon, in February I think - I’d actually forgotten about it, but stumbled upon it by accident while running errands and took a detour. The actual parade is well worth it; the merchants string huge, thick ropes of firecrackers from the front of the shops, and you can’t imagine the noise as they go off hundreds adnd thousands in sequence.
The El platform might keep you out of the worst of the smoke, but you’d miss the dragon dance. You really want to be in the middle of it all, at least for a little while.
I’ve never been to the one in the big Chinatown on Cermak, though; it’s supposed to be pretty intense.
The stuff that the kids shoot off isn’t particularly pretty to watch, so you aren’t missing much in that regard. These are fireworks more for the noise effect than for the beautiful light show.
As it so happens, I was visiting my GF in Sangamon County, IL over the holiday, and I saw the stands that Thrillhouse mentioned. I had no idea that fireworks were even illegal in IL…
On a related note, I read in a Dayton newspaper on the way out that it is legal to purchase fireworks in Ohio, but illegal to use them in the state. Can any Ohio Dopers confirm that?
Because they are dangerous, and have no useful purpose (other than entertainment) to justify the risk.
The dangers are well documented. You haven’t provided any evidence for your assertion that the danger is “not enough to justify” banning them. The fact that the state would benefit financially is not necessarily sufficient reason to risk death, injury, and property damage. They could probably benefit financially by legalizing crack cocaine and taxing it, but that doesn’t neccessarily mean they should.
Here are some statistics:
http://www.silive.com/living/advance/index.ssf?/base/news/1088776138283870.xml
Here’s the source data from the NFPA website:
http://www.nfpa.org/Research/NFPAFactSheets/Fireworks/fireworks.asp#b
Now I’m sure someone will be quick to point out something along the lines of “Well, more people are injured in automobiles, and they don’t ban them” or something similar. But of course, such comparisons are inapt, because fireworks do not have the necessary function that automobiles have. You can’t just look at the danger; you have to weigh the danger against the utility. For example, you can die from eating poisoned food, but it makes no sense to ban food, because it’s necessary.
While I partially agree with your conclustion, your reasoning is flawed here. Just because some harmful things are legal for adults does not mean that all harmful things must be legal for adults. Legislators are not required to cure all evils in order to cure one evil.
Having said that, though, I don’t believe anti-fireworks laws are only for the purpose of preventing children from getting fireworks. Adults can and do cause accidents as well.
Not to detract from your basic argument, which I broadly agree with, but…there is no real “utility” in smoking tobacco, and heaps of danger. Yet any attempt to ban tobacco outright would be met with howls of derision.
Much as we hate to admit it, there are financial and political considerations at work: the benefit to a “fireworks tax” would be negligible, and a lot fewer people would be upset about no longer being able to fire off bottle rockets on the 4th than would be upset by having their smokes taken away. Yes, it is “rational” to ban fireworks because of the dangers presented by their use and abuse…but have you ever known legislatures to act rationally?
Good point, and one that I left out. The practicality of the situation is also a factor. Look at Prohibition. It didn’t end because the government suddenly had a change of heart and decided that alcohol was good; it ended because it didn’t work. Alcohol is too ingrained in our culture to ban. And the same goes with cigarettes. People would never take it lying down.
Oh, I agree. Those are definitely factors; I only said financial consideration do not necessarily make a given course of action the right one. I didn’t say they don’t have an influence.
Well, that would seem to be the obvious reason why various legislatures ban fireworks; I am neither defending nor condemning it. Are you suggesting another reason?
Oh, I don’t think we disagree. I just think that, if you’re only weighing the dangers of a product, it would make more sense to ban tobacco. But, as you rightly introduce the factor of “practicality,” the legislatures’ actions do make “rational” sense in that light.
It would be interesting to examine the reasons for the proposal to ban fireworks in Illinois, and the reasons behind the relaxation of fireworks laws in Pennsylvania. When I was growing up in PA, you couldn’t buy anything stronger than a sparkler…now it seems to be a big industry on the PA border.