Experience teaches that many residents of Sedgwick County either don’t know or don’t care that the county bans fireworks in unincorporated areas and that a lawbreaker risks a $1,000 fine. (A similar situation exists in Wichita, where banned 6 feet-plus fireworks are everywhere every Fourth.) But is the proper official response to illegal behavior to make it legal? Lifting the ban and letting state law prevail — one option that county commissioners are considering — would ease the enforcement burden on county fire officials. But would it serve public safety? And given the risk of fire and injury, residents’ free exercise of an expanded right to shoot fireworks wouldn’t come free to taxpayers.
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31 Comments
Repeal it or no, we shoot the fireworks we want to. I don’t like that law so I ignore it.
This year not withstanding, July is usually the driest month of the year. So let’s shoot fire into the air destined to fall on on wood-shake shingles!
Sorry.
But professional fireworks displays are always better. They take precautions, fire better shells, and pay for insurance if something goes wrong. Personal use of fireworks lead to George WMD Bush (as a kid) stuffing cherry bombs down the throats of horned toads just to hear the bang and kill what is probably the only lesser animal he could find on the planet.
Ol’ “Regular” won’t admit it, but youthful animal abuse is a precursor to serial murder. Which is exactly what Shrub turned out to commit in Iraq and Afghanistan.
LMFAO.
Fireworks in Sedgwick County …
“Monkey” gives us
GEORGE BUSH GEORGE BUSH.
You just can’t make this schitt up.
Which is exactly what Shrub turned out to commit in Iraq and Afghanistan.
======================
Obama is a serial murder too, then.
Bush and Obama are a product of the fireworks ban in Sedgwick County….Great logic, Moneyhawk.
I mean Monkeyhawk.
“ANTI” –
“Moneyhawk” will work, too.
Compared to you.
Interesting how WE Blog CONs come to the defense of… “BlueJay!” on this issue.
Talk about logic.
Interesting how WE Blog CONs come to the defense of… “BlueJay!” on this issue.
===================================
Like who?
I was just a kid when they TRIED to deny fireworks to Wichita kids.
I remember the argument well. It seems there had been a few fires that the fire department had to put out. I remember thinking that I thought putting out fires was their job and if they did not enjoy it they might look for other work.
No one pays attention to the ban anyway.
If the city would bring back the fireworks show cessna statium. Then less people would be shooting off fireworks.
“someguy” offers –
“If the city would bring back the fireworks show cessna statium….”
Yeah.
But that would be SOCIALISM!!!!
so, bj just ignores laws he doesn’t like. Ahhh, laws don’t apply to people who don’t like them? who put bj above the law? I wonder if others could do that? ‘my defense, your honor, is that I do not like the law prohibiting (fill in the blank) so I don’t obey it.’ Wow..bj is sooo special….
the article in the paper included the line:
“Some people are very passionate about their right to shoot fireworks,” he said.
since when did this become a RIGHT? Let’s see, it is a RIGHT to blow up explosives, injuring thousands and causing over $21 MILLION in property damage (http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/fworks.htm)
wow…quite the RIGHT there…I think I will blow some stuff up and burn down some property…sounds like a logical thing to do to “celebrate”…
What?
Banning Fireworks doesn’t stop people from using Fireworks?
Gasp!
When fireworks are outlawed,
Only outlaws will have fireworks.
BlueJay
Posted October 21, 2009 at 3:21 pm | Permalink
I was just a kid when they TRIED to deny fireworks to Wichita kids.
I remember the argument well. It seems there had been a few fires that the fire department had to put out. I remember thinking that I thought putting out fires was their job and if they did not enjoy it they might look for other work.
No one pays attention to the ban anyway.
===========================================
Yet BJ, you would be for banning guns?
(Even though bad guys sometimes carry guns and kill people and police and EMT’s have to show up, well, that’s their job anyway.)
BlueJay
Posted October 21, 2009 at 1:20 pm | Permalink
Repeal it or no, we shoot the fireworks we want to. I don’t like that law so I ignore it.
————————————————
So following your logic if the rich don’t like subsidizing entitlement programs then they are free to ignore those laws.
BlueJay
Posted October 21, 2009 at 3:21 pm | Permalink
I was just a kid when they TRIED to deny fireworks to Wichita kids.
I remember the argument well. It seems there had been a few fires that the fire department had to put out. I remember thinking that I thought putting out fires was their job and if they did not enjoy it they might look for other work.
——————————————
No we see what Blue Jay REALLY thinks of p[eople who serve the public. Ever think firefighters get tired of risking their lives for dumbazzes like you who decide to ignore the law? Maybe if they ban fireworks and your house catches fire because you ignore the law maybe they should just ignore their duty to put your hovel out
Free…..methinks bj just spews anything to get attention. he has admitted he is immature and childish. he is like the little kid in the pool, screaming ‘mommy, look at meeeeee’ every 5 seconds.
Free–to use bj’s “logic”, since I don’t agree with laws prohibiting shooting people, I can go ahead and shoot anyone I want.
such a wonderful example he sets for his kids, “don’t like a law? you don’t have to follow it”
BeeJay,
Destined to have kids with DUIs and dope smokin’ convictions by 18….
tard…
In fact, I think there are probably MORE and more dangerous fireworks shot in the city now then there were before the ban. Back in the 70’s when the ban was enacted, large aerial shells were unavailable to the public.
The only way you’d ever get fireworks out of Wichita is to ban them statewide. And that aint happenin’.
Know the only people allowed to sell the good stuff just across the border? Church groups. And they aint about to see that yearly revenue boost go away.
Fireworks bans are stupid. Why not wear a pillow around your head everytime you wake up. STOP banning everyone’s fun and freedoms- if you don’t want to risk using fireworks, don’t use them!
Fireworks are stupid.
They cause fires, injuries and air pollution.
They violate local ordinances in safety, fire prevention and noise. They are disturbers of the peace.
Firework shows are much better and grander.
Fireworks sales should be banned everywhere except for professional licensed, fireworks display personnel.
“They violate local ordinances in safety, fire prevention and noise. They are disturbers of the peace.”
And they will continue. Whether it is legal or not.
I think the fireworks ban is simply absurd.
Every single city surrounding wichita allows the use and sale of 1.4G fireworks. Derby, Goddard, Park City, and Andover. They all sale the fireworks and people in the surrounding areas all use them. Many of them do so illegally, either knowingly or unknowingly because they are in suburbs which are not technically incorporated.
People in my parents neighborhood have been lighting off 1.4G fireworks for many years now. All of a sudden, this past year, the County FD decides they want to put up signs saying it is illegal. That sign lasted less than a day and was tore down.
Guess what? People around Lake Afton still fired off their 1.4G fireworks.
The argument that it is a public safety issue lacks any real convincing numbers to prove this.
Most of the accidents which happen involve kids with fireworks which are not even banned, like sparklers.
The problem is not the fireworks, it is the parents who let their kids play with them when they are too yound and then let them play with them inappropriately.
Lighting off fireworks is one of my favorite hobbies.
This last year I made my own show. I had my own mortar racks, my launching boards, fused it all together, and made a great show.
I am sorry, but I just don’t have much desire anymore to go watch a firework display downtown where I am so far from the action it isn’t much fun.
Having my own show puts myself and the audience right there. Front row seats. I would argue that an amateur fireworks show can be so much better than a professional one.
Keep in mind, I do all this with 1.4G fireworks.
Next year I want to get an electronic launcher and I will wire up my show and have music as well.
The county should lift it’s ban and so should
Wichita.
BlueJay,
Not even a state ban would stop them. People would just go to Oklahoma and Missouri to buy them.
Idaho banned 1.4G fireworks when I was growing up there and we all just drove over to Wyoming to buy fireworks.
Every year, right there in Idaho Falls, you would see hundreds if not a thousand people lighting off illegal fireworks.
Since 1996 the weight of imported fireworks has doubled while the number of accidents per 100k has gone down by half.
Fireworks have gotten safer, they are being used more, and accidents have gone down.
The local governments should spend more money on education and safety rather than enforcement of bans.
http://www.cpsc.gov/library/2008fwreport.pdf
Doesn’t anybody ever learn. Prohibition on most anything never really fully works.
And Obviously with a fireworks ban, it’s a complete failure.
If Anything poses any risks, the only thing that helps. Is education, safety, and prevention.
But preventing anybody from shooting off fireworks is not the kind of prevention I’m talking about.
The city should just lift the ban on most fireworks within the city limits, except for exploding aerial fireworks that pose a fire hazard for fields and roofs. Find some open spaces within the City limits, that’s free of houses or any roofs within a large area. And designate some zones where people can go and shoot off most any firework they want to, including exploding aerials.
Have a few cpr trained volunteers, an emt, firefighter and officer at each zone. Have it up and running from 9 am till 2 am in the morning. From June 28th to July 6th. With a nice little celebration on the 4th at each zone, with BBQing and Grilling, maybe have food vendors with kiosks their as well.
Take a close look at this. What actually is the record of injuries and fires related to fireworks? Is it big, or is it minor? How does the record here compare to other places with similar bans or with more or less restrictive policies? It seems that policy should be based on facts, not primarily on enforceability. If the current law is serving a valuable purpose, even if imperfectly, keep it. If it is really pointless, change or eliminate it.
Years ago I lived in a neighborhood where fireworks were de rigeur for midnight on New Years. Then the city decided to make their fireworks illegal and at least a lot harder to come by. So, being practical people they used the noisemaker the 2nd amendment protected and started shooting guns into the air at midnight. A lot of guns! I would imagine that an easy 2000 rounds were expended in the 15-20min. period of celebration. Something about what goes up….!
Someone said that July is the driest month of the year, this is not correct and it is not even close to the highest fire danger month of the year. The wheat is cut by the time fireworks go on sale so all you may have left are stubblefields, farmer doesnt care if they burn at that point. Highest fire danger months of the year are usually January through April when the vegetation is still dormant. July may be the hottest but not the driest.
Then again droughts can throw the whole thing off but we havent had a serious drought in central kansas for over 30 years during the summer.