fireworks. should they be banned from high street shops ( and newsagents?)

[dove]

What do you think?

I for one is totally against any gunpowder, fireworks, being sold at all, except to bonifide public displays

[shaneystar]

I quite agree.Not being a killjoy but they are O.K if they are supervised or as you say at a public display. They start going off now and are still going off up until the New Year.Dangerous things in the wrong hands and my poor old pooch hates them.
I thought they had brought in some law to ban them except for public displays?
We have had them going off here this evening already and it's not bonfire night yet.

[luckystrike]

In Northern Ireland anyone wanting to purchase any fireworks have to apply to the police for a licence. I agree with this, and feel that the rest of the UK should follow our example.

[Lindylou]

I totally agree dove - I've seen young children lighting rockets around where I live. Who sells these to them? Do their parents buy them and let them 'play' with them? They scare me to death!

[loopey]

i agree, an organised do where its run by experienced people is fine but each year theres so many preventable accidents.

[c00ky83]

I'd say it's common sense - you can't just sell Joe Public an unlimited amount of what is basically gunpowder! As it stands, hooligans aren't breaking any laws by letting them off in the streets. Ban them!

[Ding-Dong]

Yes, yes, yes, yes yes: these should absolutely be made illegal other than for organised displays. We have had the chavs on the local chav estate letting these damn things off indiscriminately for the last four weeks. It drives the dogs mad, and on at least three occasions has woken our two year old up at bloody awful times.

The only consolation is that some of these effing idiots manage to blow their faces and fingers off. Good.

[maggie01]

They seem to be let off weeks before firework night and at many weekends after. Its much better to have a firework display and safer. Each year someone gets hurt. I feel very very sorry for the animals. If it was one night then it would be easy to keep them safe but you never know when they are going to be let off. Also every year someone thinks it a laugh to inflict some sort of sick pain on an animal with fireworks. Ireland seems to have the right idea.

[qapmoc]

Hi all, well I have no problems with fireworks either way, but what worries me is more and more rules against everything, it will get to the stage where you will worry about f*rting in public in case you get nicked for emission of explosive gases.

[MrPahoehoe]

Couldn't agree more qapmoc. Much as I agree that fireworks can be extremely dangerous and children have no buisness handling them, I can't help thinking that we should be fighting the causes that lead to kids getting hold of them and the social issues that have bred the chav underclass.

Anything can be abused: whats next, need to get a police license to buy a "potential leathal" hammer??

This isn't personal, but this country is becoming dangerously Politically Correct and this is just another example. I agree that things need to change, but this style of censorship seems to be a running attempt to fix a much larger problem. The problem is with the people missusing the fireworks, rather than the fireworks themselves.

[Ouisch]

I'll be the dissenting vote here....in my home state of Michigan, fireworks are illegal to sell, other than sparklers and certain firecrackers. My borther, however, is an avid fireworks fan, so every year for his birthday I buy him a mixed bag of sky rockets, Roman candles, etc etc, in South Carolina (since my in-law live in Georgia, and it's on the way). He shoots them off for us on the Fourth of July (we have a big barbecue,etc, leading to the fireworks) and we all exercise extreme caution and common sense when using them. I must admit, for an area where fireworks are effectively banned, our neighborhood sounds like Bagdad or Beirut on July 4th with all the explosives. :)

[The Fugative]

In New Zealand all rockets are banned. You can still buy fireworks that are deemed �safe� but anything large enough to do damage is banned apart from registered companies that do live shows.

I can�t help but feel sad and angry when I hear about idiots strapping these rockets etc to poor animals. In the paper today a story about an elderly couple who had their dog blown to pieces by some goons.

Forget this PC junk the last two posters refer too, don�t animals have the right to not be blown up, mutilated and maimed by these things?

It�s a shame if the responsible people miss out due to a few bad apples spoiling it for everyone but there needs to be a line drawn to protect kids and especially animals.

[copippin]

I agree,fireworks are great in an organised display but put them in the hands of amateurs and they are dangerous. There are usually plenty of public displays to watch so I don't think I'm being a killjoy when I say that the general public should not be able to buy them with the freedom that exhists at the moment.

[Mortartube]

I've only just found this thread and unfortunately much of it seems to contain misinformation and scaremongering. It is, and has been, an offence to discharge a firework in a public place since the implementation of the explosives act 1875. It is now an offence for any persons under 18 years of age to posses a firework in a public place. It is an offence to sell a firework to a person under 18 years of age. The maximum nise limit of category 3 display fireworks is now 120db. The travesty is that the law is not being enforced ( and hasn't been effectively enforced for years).. Please don't blame the fireworks or those who enjoy them and use them sensibly and responsibly. Perhaps by the same token we should ban cars as people still drink and drive. There is now a sale period of two weeks before November 5th and one week afterwards (Unless a professional company spends a lot of money to register to sell outside of these dates). Also sale is allowed for one week up to New Years eve. Chinese New Year and Divali also have sales periods. Some of this laws have only come into effect this year so please give them a chance.

[admarlow]

I bet I don't get 3 *'s but I don't think they should be banned, or maybe we should also look at banning cars, sharp knives, swear words, and fun?

[Tivvy]

Get rid of the F in Fireworks.

I'm totally sick to the back teeth of this nightly noisy intrusion into my life. Sick of trying to calm my pets down (and keeping them confined to the house) night after bloody night for weeks on end.

If you really want to celebrate a failed terrorist 400 years after the event - then go to a properly organised public even - don't set off your crashes and bangs feet away from my windows. Apparantly they are supposed to be limited to 120 Db - rubbish - the stuff going off as I type this is well in excess of that. Anyway 120 Db can cause serious hearing damage to hearing especially if it is a sudden noise (such as fireworks set off by someone else invariably are) - and what about animals and wildlife whose hearing is more sensitive than humans. Nah just ignore them - after all they don't pay taxes and ain't allowed to vote either!

For goodness sake - will someone PLEASE co-ordinate a massive nationwide campaign to get the sale of fireworks yo Jo Public banned once and for all! Someone start a widely publicised petition with so many signatures that the Government won't be able to fly in the face of it. Let's get rid of the effing fireworks!

[blazebuster]

I agree with you. My husband is a pyrotechnician. in Scotland fireworks are banned after 11.00pm unless you get a special dispensation from your local council but this year there have been more fired after that time than ever. It seems as if the idiots who fire them illegally are deliberately flouting the law just to prove that there are people who will never do as they are asked to do. There have also been times this week when they have been firing rockets at people's windows

I hope and pray that the complete ban (except where there are public displays where the people firing them have a certificate to prove that they are 100% legal)

blazebuster

[mastadon]

fireworks are fun. a lot of people posting against them seem to be doing so on the basis that they annoy them. is that any reason to make something illegal? cats annoy me, but i wouldn't suggest banning them.

[trundler]

If something annoys people, they SHOULD make a fuss and get it banned if they can.