Stupid Fireworks laws.

[BrianWC]

In or about the early 80's, my state (good ol' Louisiana) banned bottle rockets. For those of you who don't know or remember what I am talking about, the bottle rockets of which I speak are the small propellant and explosive charge that in total, are about the size of your regular "firecracker" with a thin stick attached. Bottle rocket wars were common and I guess perhaps a kid or two got their eye damaged. That's all well and good. If people think they are a hazard, fine.

See pic:

However, it seems over the last ten years these mortar tube fireworks are getting larger and larger.

Never mind the fact that they also didn't ban the larger stick-attached rockets. I now regularly see these things every 4th of July and Christmas/New Year's and this past week I saw (and even bought) some of these that actually appeared to be practically the same quality of a commercial fireworks display. I can't understand why these things are seen as perfectly safe yet the lowly bottle rocket is still illegal to use to the tune of a $500 fine in my state.

I mean, heaven forbid, these things could be used as weapons by some miscreant. Don't get me wrong, I love to shoot them off and probably spend at least $100 each holiday on them but where's the logic here? Just curious....

 

[The_Jeff]

Bottle rockets= lower class.

Tons more examples of what rich adults can get away with (compared to "hooligans") include Harleys with straight pipes...

 

[TylerL]

It sounded stupid to me at first but think about who uses bottle rockets; drunk people and kids. You can't ban kids or drunk people so what do you ban?

 

[BrianWC]

Drunk people use the bigger fireworks, too!

 

[TylerL]

You got me there.

 

[road_rascal]

Originally Posted By: BrianWC
Drunk people use the bigger fireworks, too!


Yeah, I have a neighbor behind me who likes shooting these things off at 1AM during bonfire parties. Bonehead.

 

[BrianWC]

Hmmm, wikipedia says this:

Quote:
Bottle rockets are specifically illegal in many jurisdictions, even those where most other consumer fireworks are legal. They are sometimes considered to present a unique hazard, due to their ability to fly in many different directions other than vertically. Bottle rockets are illegal in several states[1] in America, but they are cheap and easy to obtain.

 

[GMBoy]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Bottle rockets= lower class.

Tons more examples of what rich adults can get away with (compared to "hooligans") include Harleys with straight pipes...



Some consider straight pipes a safety issue so distracted car/truck owners can hear them.

 

[Shannow]

Down here they banned "Roman Candles", as kids were using them as star wars guns.

Then they banned the lot.

Now the stuff that IS out there is unregulated, and uncontrolled...and kids aren't exposed to the low level stuff.

In Sydney the other day, an 8 year old's first ever exposure to fireworks was finding some cracker, lighting it, blowing the fingers off one hand, deafening his brother and showering his three year old sister's face in shrapnel.

At least when you made mistakes with the legal (regulated) stuff, your ears rang, fingers hurt, and lessons were learned.