fireworks rules in NC

[gman6974]

Me and some friends would drive to the South of the Border and purchase hundreds of dollars worth of fireworks for the 4th. Didn't do it this year though.

We live in the country so we could make as much noise as we wanted.

[lovebrentwood]

Yes -- and every year there are fireworks horror stories:
Fargo man beheaded by Fourth of July firework - TODAY News - TODAY.com

Originally Posted by arsbadmojo

Because dumb people sometimes don't know that they're dumb.

I have very mixed emotions about consumer fireworks. I've been a fan of fireworks since I was 6. I've spent thousands of dollars on them, and enjoyed them very much.

I also read the list of fireworks accidents and deaths that is published every year by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. This report is a bit misleading, because if little junior soaks a tennis ball in gasoline and tries to launch it and burns himself, that is (for reasons that make no sense) considered a fireworks related injury. Remember the horrible NJ night club fire with Great White when some pyro set the roof on fire? A lot of people died. Those got lumped in whatever year that was.

But once you filter out that stuff, there are an awful lot of injuries that do occur, mainly to children. Ironically, the cheap stuff is the worst. Lots of stepping on spent sparklers. Lots of eye injuries from bottle rockets. Again, the report doesn't specify if these were from people having "bottle rocket wars", or if they were from completely unsupervised children or more legitimate accidents.

As a fan I can say that consumer fireworks HAVE gotten safer over the years. They tip over less, they blow out less, the fuses are slower and more predictable. I don't use bottle rockets anymore. There's just no reason to. They're unpredictable and go too high for a pretty display. I use multi-tube repeating cakes and mortars.

IF you follow the directions. IF you are over 18. IF you wear safety goggles and keep a hose and extinguisher ready. IF you are sober. IF you keep spectators at a safe distance consumer fireworks are actually very safe.

But that's a lot of 'IFs' and people seem to have a really hard time doing all of them, and none are really negotiable.

Are these products something we want to make available to the general public? I'm all for freedom, but there are a lot of morons out there.

[arsbadmojo]

Originally Posted by lovebrentwood

Yes -- and every year there are fireworks horror stories:
Fargo man beheaded by Fourth of July firework - TODAY News - TODAY.com

Not exactly sure what point you're making, but yes - there's usually at least one fireworks related death around this time of year. And in every single case at least one of the rules wasn't being followed.

The article is scarce on detail, but it sounds very much like this guy got his hands on a 1.3G device of the type used in commercial shows. I forgot to list that rule, but that's a big no no.

Some years ago there were 2 separate fatalities with guys looking down mortar tubes to see why a shell hadn't gone off. A terrible tragedy, but come on - that's just not using common sense.

And of course more people died in pools and boating accidents the same weekend, but you can still do those activities in this state.

For them, against them - I could seriously argue it either way, but there is a lot of misinformation, fear and ignorance about consumer fireworks.