fireworks

[mysticgohan17]

Is using fireworks or other dangerously festive explosives outside the 24 hour period of July 4 at any place (other than a sporting event etc.) illegal?

[Conquest10]

24 hour period of July 4? people around here have been fireing them up for the past month and a half. explosives i think would be illegal no matter what day it is. especially these days when you can't go out with a paintball gun.

[mysticgohan17]

they should be illegal outside of the 4th and superbowl preshows and stuff but if a ban is placed on fireworks, that'd just be f****.

[The village idiot]

All fireworks are illegal in NY. Well except the licensed shows, but for average people they are illegal at any time of the year. Which doesn't really stop anyone.

[tenders]

in my neck of the woods,its ok to fire them off before or after Canada Day,Victoria Day,etc. there are noise by-laws in most cities after 11pm here,so that could get you into trouble. i'm not sure about this,but i think that fireworks are only for sale in and around the special days mentioned.

[Doggiedaddy]

Most of Washington State has a 3 day limit if I remember correctly encompassing the 4th of July, this can be overridden county by county and banned though. With some strict limitations on which fireworks you can buy. They have the little mom and pop stands everywhere with the lightweight kid stuff. If you take a ride to your local Indian Reservation the sky is the limit, I'm talking haft sticks of dynamite and all the good blow the hell out of stuff kind.

(;-{> Dd

[zodiac]

in vermont their illeagal all year long.in new hampshire you can only buy fire works that dont explode,but if they dont explode their not real fire works

[pacmania_2001]

Were I live they are illegal, but a short trip over into NSW (the next state) and their is a supplier who has all the good stuff. Also their is a guy in my local area who sells them out the back of his four wheel drive. Should be real interesting to see in a crash.

The police here don't really worry that much about them, as long as you arent using them to shoot out windows or something like that.

We sometimes make our own by either (a) scrapping off the sparkler dust from alot of sparklers then putting it in a tin with a whole in top and a sparkler as a fuse or (b) getting some aerosol cans then strapping them together in a bunch of 6 or so with duct tape. Then filling around them with sparkler dust and then lighting it with a fuse.

[Conquest10]

We sometimes make our own by either (a) scrapping off the sparkler dust from alot of sparklers then putting it in a tin with a whole in top and a sparkler as a fuse or (b) getting some aerosol cans then strapping them together in a bunch of 6 or so with duct tape. Then filling around them with sparkler dust and then lighting it with a fuse.

i would really love to see the outcome of that.

[tenders]

We sometimes make our own by either (a) scrapping off the sparkler dust from alot of sparklers then putting it in a tin with a whole in top and a sparkler as a fuse or (b) getting some aerosol cans then strapping them together in a bunch of 6 or so with duct tape. Then filling around them with sparkler dust and then lighting it with a fuse.

i used to do that kind of stuff in my younger days. my friend and i used to empty out 12 guage shells and use the gunpowder to make bombs :P

it was a real blast

[mrtristan]

It varies from state to state. Just about anything more explosive than a sparkler is illegal in Hawaii now, but that doesn't stop people from pop pop popping.

I used to buy my illegal fireworks from a fire captain. Go figure.

[hoyboy]

You wouldn't be in good old QLD eh Pacmania!

[pacmania_2001]

i would really love to see the outcome of that.

Quite a few times things went wrong. I wish I still had the footage of my mate lighting it then it exploding moments later. He wasn't hurt but he had a bad cause of the shakes.

We also got a large coffee tin one day and filled it with kero and sugar cane mulch and lit it on fire. Had turns playing flameball soccer. My mate had quite a fun time explaining (read: bullshitting) to his parents why their backyard was burnt to a crisp.

You wouldn't be in good old QLD eh Pacmania!

Yep! Although I am partly ashamed of our State of Origin performance.

[freak_in_cage_10k]

here in the uk i dont think there is a restriction as to when you can set fireworks off- pretty much any time of the year as far as i am aware (probably after 7am bu before 11pm i expect!). however, they are pretty hard to get hold of at times other than bonfire night/guy fawlkes night etc. also, large "bangers" (eg baby sticks of dynamite) are not avaliable.

when i was about 16 i was HEAVILY into bombs etc- i just set them off in fields etc near where i lived, it was great fun- i even developed my own personal electrical ignition system which i was dead chuffed with, it was about 95% reliable also, and, most importantly, it cost about 2p each!. most of the time i went for loud noise alone, but accasioanlly i would split large posts into splinters etc. i even made a crude handgun once- weilded it all together etc, perfect bore diameter:thickness ratio etc, it worked in a similar way to a cannon (i made a chassis for it as the thought of holiding it didn;t appeal to me!. i used the lathe at school to craft perfectly balanced bullets also, but i never quite had the courage to fire it, for fear that it exploded and sent shrapnell all over the place!

[i_am_dave]

Here in Tennessee, it varies by county. You can buy fireworks in most counties for the 4th and Christmas. In some counties, you can buy fireworks any time.
Don't know about how legal they are any other times, but I have yet to hear about someone being arrested.

[Craig Tucker]

So am I right in thinking that in the USA fireworks are illegal but you can all have as many guns as you like.

[i_am_dave]

Yep!

Although I do not own any type of gun, it is nice to know that I could if I wanted to.

[tgpo]

So am I right in thinking that in the USA fireworks are illegal but you can all have as many guns as you like.

In SC fireworks are perfectly legal. You can buy them when you want, year round. In GA, they can't buy them, so they cross the border and buy from us.

[Craig Tucker]

So what is the reason for the illegality of fireworks in the USA.

[i_am_dave]

So what is the reason for the illegality of fireworks in the USA.

I think it is mainly to keep small children from blowing their fingers off. I know when I was small (around 10 years old), we used to light them then throw them at each other. I had quite a few go off in my hand or near my face. Not pleasant.
When I grew to be a teenager, we made bottle rocket guns. This was essentially a piece of copper tubing bent in the shape of a gun. You then placed the bottle rocket in the tube, lit it, and pointed it at your friends.

Kind of the same effect on a smaller scale as a shoulder launched missile!

Also good for getting rid of the neighbors dog when he decides to pee on your wifes flower beds!

[adam]

Laws against fireworks are mainly to prevent fires. That's why fireworks are usually banned outright in densely populated areas, there's just too great a risk of one firework burning down the whole block.

Where I'm from, its illegal to possess fireworks within the city limits, and yes they definitely do enforce it. The fireworks stands set up shop just outside the city limits where the laws don't affect them, and the cops just camp out there waiting for someone to buy some and try to re-enter the city. Of course this only happens during 4th of July and New Years.

[tgpo]

Thus far we've never had a fire caused by fireworks. MOST people either go to Augusta, GA to watch the fireworks on the river, or go into fields to shoot them. Or if it's raining a lot of people will shoot from there house. They're not a big deal around here.

[i_am_dave]

Thus far we've never had a fire caused by firewires.

You and I are lucky. SC and Northeast TN are almost always green. Difficult to start fires.
Unfortunately you cannot say the same thing about Southern CA. I image a sparkler could cause a lot of damage if thrown from a car window somewhere around San Clemente!

[Conquest10]

So am I right in thinking that in the USA fireworks are illegal but you can all have as many guns as you like.

well, in chicago, its illegal to own a gun. you can go right outside the city limits and find tons of gun shops. but if you bring one into the city, you are breaking the law.

[i_am_dave]

well, in chicago, its illegal to own a gun. you can go right outside the city limits and find tons of gun shops. but if you bring one into the city, you are breaking the law.

Really? That suprises me
How does the city of Chicago get away with denying its citizens thier constitutional rights?

[Conquest10]

don't know. guess nobody seems to care. i think because they're illegal it gives the "sense" that its a safer city.
there's also laws here that discourage freedom of assembly.

[i_am_dave]

I like Chicago, but safety comes down to knowing where you should and shouldn't go at various times of day.

I have walked around in the blocks near the pier at 11 p.m. at night and felt safe, but there are other areas I won't even drive through in the middle of the day!

I'll be in Chicago in another 3 weeks. I grew up about 30 miles north in Lake County. However, my kids have never been to a 'Real' city before.

[Conquest10]

i know what you mean. i feel comfortable and safe going to school downtown from the southwest side. however, (and i don't mean to sound racist) i would never go into the black neighborhoods alone.

[Craig Tucker]

So what is the reason for the illegality of fireworks in the USA.

I think it is mainly to keep small children from blowing their fingers off. I know when I was small (around 10 years old), we used to light them then throw them at each other. I had quite a few go off in my hand or near my face. Not pleasant.
When I grew to be a teenager, we made bottle rocket guns. This was essentially a piece of copper tubing bent in the shape of a gun. You then placed the bottle rocket in the tube, lit it, and pointed it at your friends.

Kind of the same effect on a smaller scale as a shoulder launched missile!

Also good for getting rid of the neighbors dog when he decides to pee on your wifes flower beds!

See thats what I don't get. Would I be right in assuming that there a far more injuries and fatalaties to children involving handguns than there are involving fireworks in the USA. You just make sure you dont sell fireworks to kids, and anyone caught doing so gets hit really hard. Surely a Gun is far more lethal than a firework, whoevers hands its in.

As you probrably know we had a couple of really bad incidents over here involving guns the last one being Dunblane where 16 children and a teacher were killed, as a result of these incidents the ownership of handguns and rifles is now banned, and I for one am thankful for that.

[pacmania_2001]

I like Chicago, but safety comes down to knowing where you should and shouldn't go at various times of day.

When I was over their we were told by our hotel concierge (spelling?) about the areas we should and shouldn't go (like around the United Centre at night).

Apart from that though it is a great city, I like the Amazon themed restaurant they have their (cant remember the name).

i went for loud noise alone

We went for explosion size and damage.