Fireworks, The Fourth And All That Boom, Boom!

Quick: Tell me what you think of when I say “Fourth of July.”
Fireworks, right?
But in Pennsylvania and New Jersey if you want to enjoy fireworks you have to attend an officially sanctioned community fireworks display. Because when it comes to fireworks in these parts you can look but you can’t touch.
The sale of fireworks is banned in New Jersey and in Pennsylvania. But now a loophole has popped up. A 2004 revision to Pennsylvania’s fireworks law allows Pennsylvania fireworks distributors to sell to customers from out of state. So, if you can prove that you are not from Pennsylvania you can buy fireworks in Pennsylvania.
This has prompted Pennsylvania fireworks distributors to send out mailings pitching Fourth of July fireworks to New Jersey residents. I received a mailing from a Bucks County distributor near Trenton. The glossy, four-color brochure advertised fireworks with names like Mother of All Bombs and Whole Lot of Fire Power. And it included a full list of prices and told me where and how to buy the fireworks.
All of this has alarmed some local and state officials on both sides of the river.
But let’s face it: People who want to set off fireworks on the Fourth will usually find a way to do it.
A quick trip down I-95 takes you to firework country in the nation’s capital. There, you can find roadside stands at nearly every corner laden with all types of fireworks. Big colorful signs and jumbo firework assortment packs welcome you. And nobody asks where you’re from. Fireworks are legal in the District of Columbia and throughout much of the South.
When I was a kid my dad always had fireworks on the Fourth of July and he wasn’t shy about setting them off. My mother hated it. But despite her protestations my father’s reversion to the role of patriotic prankster continued unabated. For many years holiday picnics were interrupted by the unexpected crackle of cherry bombs. Fortunately, no one got hurt. But that’s not always the case. Fireworks injure more than 8,000 people a year in the U. S. Even a simple sparkler can reach a temperature of 1,800 degrees.
But we can’t ban everything that’s dangerous.
And we can’t rely on government to protect us from every danger. Which simply means that each of us must exercise common sense and responsibility along with those rights our founders promulgated more than 235 years ago.