Illegal Fireworks Shows (Rant)

[schmitty]

Great injuries are going down. Proving the effectiveness of allowing people to use fireworks responsibly. Those states that ban fireworks should go back to Russia! Ill be busy tonight enjoying fireworks of others and lighting them off.

 

[plutotek]

I don't know that it's backward thinking or a desire to forget the past (thereby forcing us to repeat its lessons).

Here's an interesting article about why fireworks were outlawed in Michigan in or around 1926. Interestingly enough, it was outlawed when the 4th fell on a Sunday just like it has fallen this year.

http://apps.detnews.com/apps/history/index.php?id=112

What's particularly haunting is this:



"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
- George Santayana

So you can't find a more recent article to prove how dangerous fireworks are? Now you are reaching to prove your point. Not to mention, I'm sure firefighting skills and equipment have improved greatly over the last 90 years.

Bingo.. bringing up stuff from 1920's is very odd.

It just shows that even those that are reminded of the past are condemned to repeat it. The point is that regardless of advances in emergency services (firefighting, medical, whatever), fireworks do not belong in the hands of the untrained or ignorant. The price for that ignorance/idiocy is just too high.

 

[Acklander]

We had a dad in our Cub Scout pack who used to brag about his illegal fireworks displays. He used to have his 10 year old son help him light them -- now he wonders why his son is going around starting fires in their neighborhood. I'm not saying it's a cause and effect kind of thing, but if you teach your child that one illegal activity is ok, how do you then prevent him from thinking that other laws shouldn't apply to him either?

Pyromania has nothing to do with setting off fire crackers with your dad as a child. It's an impulse control disorder. To compare the 2 would be like saying that anyone who has gone on a diet suffers from anorexia. One is a mental illness, one isn't.

 

[disneyfans95]

It just shows that even those that are reminded of the past are condemned to repeat it. The point is that regardless of advances in emergency services (firefighting, medical, whatever), fireworks do not belong in the hands of the untrained or ignorant. The price for that ignorance/idiocy is just too high.

And yet we let the untrained/ignorant use cars, cross streets, watch children etc etc

Best part, in two days all this will be put to bed for 11 1/2 months.

 

[bumbershoot]

We used to love it when my friends dad worked on 4th of july--he was a cop and he would be taking fireworks away from people but stopping by here and loading us all up with them!

What a horrible police officer! What other illegal things did he do? Man, and people wonder why I have a hard time with pure respect for cops...



Here it's a $257 fine if you're caught with fireworks, and they take them away (hopefully they don't then take them home). So there is some benefit to the police. However, with the festival today, coverage in the city is stretched a bit thin.

 

[Freyja]

The NOISE doesn't bother me, just the total disregard for the general personal safety, and the fact that they start LOTS of housefires every summer.

I´m not in the US but this would be my answer too.

 

[lillygator]

get over it......it's the fourth, as long as you are responsible ----!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[plutotek]

And yet we let the untrained/ignorant use cars, cross streets, watch children etc etc

Best part, in two days all this will be put to bed for 11 1/2 months.

Well, for people such as yourself, that's probably true.

Great injuries are going down. Proving the effectiveness of allowing people to use fireworks responsibly. Those states that ban fireworks should go back to Russia! Ill be busy tonight enjoying fireworks of others and lighting them off.

Of course you will; have fun over at the parks

 

[dogluva]

I'm as patriotic as the next guy, but I really hate the 4th of July (and the week before/after). The reason are the annoying, and mostly illegal, fireworks that thoughtless individuals think are so much fun to set off. For clarification, illegal in this case not only refers to firecrackers (bad) but also any others that are set off in a town that has a no fireworks ordinance.

Not only are they annoying, but they disrupt the evening, especially when people are trying to sleep, not to mention the aggravation it causes the dogs in the neighborhood (yes, I'm a dog person).

It used to be that we would take those few days to go camping in the national forest, away from any fireworks stands. Unfortunately, due to job changes, that's not an option at the current time.

I will politely ask people to knock it off. If that doesn't work, I tell them to knock it off, reminding them they are breaking the law. Last resort is to toss civility out the window and just call the cops, then watch the show from my porch.

Personally, they should just outlaw the 'roadside' stands, and let fireworks be presented in a show.

This is the main reason I leave my street every fourth of July. My neighbors light firewords, crackers, whatever off all week. They go into the second week of July because one night is not enough. It makes my dogs go crazy and my husband gets up at 3 so he pretty much cannot sleep the whole first two weeks of July.

I have asked them nicely. They said they have lived on the street longer than me. However, I own my house and pay taxes. I have screamed and yelled when my dogs where going crazy and my young children were scared of the noise going off randomly. Didn't work. So I do call the cops because that is the only way to stop the nonsense. One year they were purposely lighting them off in my bushes under my one year old's bedroom.

I used to love the Fourth but now I dread it.

 

[maxiesmom]

It just shows that even those that are reminded of the past are condemned to repeat it. The point is that regardless of advances in emergency services (firefighting, medical, whatever), fireworks do not belong in the hands of the untrained or ignorant. The price for that ignorance/idiocy is just too high.

You could say that guns don't belong in the hands of the untrained or ignorant. Or motorcycles. Or boats. You can't ban away everything that "may" cause harm. Most people look at the past and learn from it. They don't become frozen by fear from it.

 

[clarabelle]

get over it......it's the fourth, as long as you are responsible ----!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What if you have to work the next day?
What if your dog is so hysterical that no one in your house can sleep?
What if they are illegal?

Why should your personal enjoyment impact everyone around you?

 

[plutotek]

You could say that guns don't belong in the hands of the untrained or ignorant. Or motorcycles. Or boats. You can't ban away everything that "may" cause harm. Most people look at the past and learn from it. They don't become frozen by fear from it.

But we're not discussing guns or motorcycles or boats, we are talking about a specific subject. Maybe from a 10,000 foot viewpoint, you can draw a correlation, but that wasn't what this was about. So, you feel free to talk about apples and those on the topic of illegal fireworks can continue to discuss that. Now, I need to get the sprinklers turned on the debris that is being carelessly fired into my yard.

Thanks to all of you that contributed to the discussion. I enjoyed all the points, both the valid and the not-so-much. Everyone have a safe and LEGAL 4th.

 

[disneyfans95]

What if you have to work the next day?
What if your dog is so hysterical that no one in your house can sleep?
What if they are illegal?

Why should your personal enjoyment impact everyone around you?

Put a fan on
See above
So is jaywalking

Basically get used to it

 

[clarabelle]

You would get along well with my neighbors. They don't care who they offend either.

But I still see no reason for me to "get used" to something that is illegal, rude and dangerous.
I have a fan on right now- several -and there is no way I could sleep though this.

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

Well we've already had a couple of big grass fires here today. We are under a wind advisory but obviously that hasn't stopped some people. So far the total is 5 structures destroyed including 2 homes. It's not even dark yet... our sustained winds are 30+ mph with gusts to 50

 

[ZeitgeistDuck]

That wasn't a personal attack, short-timer. And if you want to see rude, see the quotes below from ZeitgeistDuck.






ZeitgeistDuck is behaving exactly as I characterized him in my post except I never called him on his (and your) trollish behavior until now. While ZeitgeistDuck may think he's being smart and believes he can defend his attack on another poster here who mentioned she has to tranquilize her dog during this time of year by saying he was referring to his "crazy neighbor", I've been around long enough to have seen this kind of tactic used on regular DIS posters before.

You are not nearly as perceptive as you think you are. Sweetie.

I am a 35 year old mother of two. I live in Livonia. I do not shoot off fireworks because they terrify my daughter and until this last October when she passed away, they terrified my dog.

I am, however, capable of understanding that my dog, and my children, need to suck it up. Legal fireworks- and even the bottle rockets that are sailing overhead as we speak- are part of life and are part of the 4th of July tradition of this area. If they go on past 11 or 11:30 I *might* call the cops. Since they probably won't, nothing to worry about.

My crazy neighbor- who I generally really like, other than her fireworks crazy- got a new puppy tonight. Its a little Bichon named Wednesday. We got to meet the pup when we saw them out on their porch after coming home from the beach. You can apologize now for accusing me of making up my story to "attack" someone else. Really, that was obnoxious beyond the pale.

BTW in all the "attacks" you quoted was just a blunt statement of my opinion regarding the subject. I notice you quoted me responding to someone else that wished bodily harm on a person shooting fireworks, but you didn't include the quote I was responding to. Class-ay, there might be a career in journalism for you.

 

[plutotek]

Put a fan on
See above
So is jaywalking

Basically get used to it

You would get along well with my neighbors. They don't care who they offend either.

But I still see no reason for me to "get used" to something that is illegal, rude and dangerous.
I have a fan on right now- several -and there is no way I could sleep though this.

Clarabelle, you don't have to get used to it. And you don't have to let the rude comments of this individual bother you. Class will out, and they are not worth it. I hope the night quiets down quickly for you.