Did you know it is illegal to have, let off or transport fireworks in New York State? Fireworks on the Beach. Click photo or link for more information.
It's illegal because it's not worth the risk to lose two people a year to fireworks related injuries (never mind that one accident probably claimed that much some where in the country yesterday).
the agricultural loophole is great! We used to make our own m-100's and blow up watermelons all the time!
Nice pic, Scott. The long exposure makes it look like a much bigger shell than it was. If you cropped it down, you wouldn't be able to tell that it wasn't one of the big boys in NYC or Washington. Actually, it's a little more than that. According to the CDC, in 2008 there were 7 deaths in the US related to fireworks, and 7,000 injuries resulting in ER visits (2/3 of which occurred between June 20 and July 20). Forty percent of all fireworks-related injuries are to kids under the age of 15. According to the NFPA, there were also 22,500 fires started by fireworks, resulting in an estimated $42 million in property damage. http://www.cdc.gov/homeandrecreationalsafety/fireworks/index.html Now, I'm not saying that fireworks should be illegal, but they're a dangerous product that I believe should require training and licensing to handle, and they should not be available to the general public. I live in fear every July that some yahoo with cheap fireworks is going to burn my home to the ground, and possibly kill some of the people who live here.
actually some guy blew off his left arm at the shoulder yesterday morning in NY when he leaned over the mortar tube he was lighting and it went KABOOM. ; training... well said, william.
http://www.cpsc.gov/library/2009fwreport.pdf Here's the 2009 numbers; ; Deaths were two; and their injury numbers are based on extrapolating numbers from phone calls to ERs... Anyway, I just think that rather than just ban them outright, perhaps they could regulate (and tax) them and work on safety issue - which in turn would reduce the numbers of very dangerous ones being imported from other countries....
Very nice pic! It was the same way in VA and when I moved out here to MO I was shocked how many firework stores were around here. I'm so afraid of fireworks but love to watch them from a distance.
Scott, this is a great photo! As far as the legality is concerned, do a search on YouTube, and you will see plenty of reasons why some states make them illegal.
I guess they are only counting the idiots who kill themselves because we had a really bad catastrophy here last year where some idiot ended up setting himself on fire at one town's show and then two night's later was responsible for killing something like 10 or more people (including himself) after allowing a bunch of fireworks to catch fire and blow up on the ground. So, I don't believe the CDC numbers when it comes to fireworks and there is something to say about non-fatal injuries. ; I don't know, but if I lost both my arms I'd probably wish I had died in the accident.
Here's an update of the story Tim mentioned: http://gothamist.com/2010/07/05/doctors_cant_re-attach_arm_blown_of.php
