Legal Fireworks in Your State?

In Carroll County Maryland, land based fireworks (e.g. fountains) are legal and sold in grocery stores, WalMart etc. In Prince Georges County, I think only sparklers are legal.

We are close to Gettysburg, which has Keystone Fireworks; a store that sells mortars, 500gm fireworks and pretty much anything you want to rival a professional show. In Finksburg, Md there's a billboard for a fireworks store near York, Pa that boasts "we have the good stuff." Obviously these fireworks aren't legal anywhere in Md, and just as obviously they are advertising to folks in the Peoples Republic of Maryland (just like Phantom Fireworks 20 miles south of Breezewood).

I'm curious if these professional type fireworks are legal in your state. There are many stores selling this stuff nation wide and they are obviously making money. Or are they illegal everywhere but cops basically look the other way on the 4th?

Thanks,

Kevin

http://www.keystonefireworks.com/

We can gwet them here in MOST of Oklahoma--big ones too---but only for a limited time. Janie and i usually go to Lake Eufaula for the 4th they do a great show out on a barge--but the real show is from 1000's of great private ones that are all around the lake---the "Official" show lasts about about half an hour--but the private ones go on all might before and after. Sales are usually tied to a fundraiser---school bands--4H--Future Farmers--etc--and they do very well.

Oh, you can buy any fireworks that are legal under BATFE rules and regulations, and that includes salutes, rockets -- you name 'em. The trouble is, youo have to sighn a form promising that you are removing them from the state to be used, and you have to specify the state where you are taking them. I don't know if anyone has ever taken them out of state to use, but you do have to sign the form, and if you use them in Ohio you can be arrested. Why, just last year I read of someone actually being arrested for using them. Of course, he'd been shooting them off at a big party on his place for many years and this was the first time they bothered him abouot it.

In San Diego County, the only legal fireworks are the ones the professionals get to play with at the numerous community fireworks shows.
Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to stop those who are so inclined from bringing them back from Mexico.

Not legal in NY... only licensed pros.

You can buy just about anything here. But you cant use them...sparklers I think.

In fact, today I saw a sign 500 artillary something or anothers..
That sounds like a big bang to me!

They are legal around Knoxville but the only thing I buy is bottle rockets for squirrel repellents. Works real good but it drives my ugly dog nuts.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

They made the ground type legal here in Minnesota again a few years back. Pretty lame if you ask me, you should at least be able to use bottle rockets.

People who like "the good stuff" go across the river to Wisconsin and bring it back.

At the risk of "starting something" - if you can afford to blow your money up, you don't have a leg to stand on as far as complaining about your financial situation.

In Pa. all the fireworks stores are on the borders. You can only buy the "Big Stuff" in Pa if you are from out of state. Crazy laws huh.

In Indiana we had to sign the form stating we would take them out of state, then several years ago the state came up with the idea to sell a "license" for $5, which made it "legal" to shoot them off.


Last year my wife's family puts their $ together and we take the truck down to a local store to load up. They had one heck of a show, lots of mortars and reports, kids loved it the dogs hated it.

In New Hampshire they are all legal. "Live Free or Die" is still the state motto. There have been reports of Massachusetts State Police sitting at the border and stopping people from bringing them into Mass. But everytime I hear the story it's always "...a guy who know this other guy..." I've never heard of any arrests that can be verified.

My kids are like Cajun King's. They pool their resources and one family gets a large assortment of stuff, then they gather at the home of one of my boys, pot-luck food, play in the pool, and when it even begins to get close to sundown, put on a display that makes the pre-D-Day bombardment look like a sparkler show!

They have rockets that look to be 4-5 foot long and sound like the World War II Buzz Bombs. Being an old SoCal boy where the fire danger is usually extreme by July 4th, I haven't adjusted to the environment around here altogether...so I am a "nervous nellie" who checks to see if water buckets and shovels are handy when the Barrage starts! After a couple of Sparkler burns in the past, they do restrict any hand-held items to the 'Big kids'!

The local TV is full of ads for Fireworks stands...This is their Primo Selling season!

In Houston they are illegal inside the city limits but they are legal in the county. Fireworks stands set up just outside the city limits and fire marshalls set up just inside the city limits and watch the people drive back in and confiscate the fireworks and give you a ticket. $500 to $2000 per firework. I think it is the same in most of Texas at least in the large cities.

joe

BTW a noticeable increase in Ammunition sales happen during this same period of time. I think it is interesting that "Safe and Sane" () fireworks are at least semi-controlled here, while AK-47 ammo is practically given away !! One of my neighbors has a "Ma Deuce" that he sets up with some tracer rounds and fires across the field on the 4th. I get the feeling his shooting is for more than the visual effect it creates! If you aren't familiar with that firearm, ask a Vet.

Up near Cajun King's home area (S E Indiana) the Friendship (name of the town) Flea Market and Muzzleloaders Competition runs for a couple of weeks in June. If you ever want to enjoy flash-backs of sudden bursts of gunfire coming from deep in the woods, while shopping for flea-market goods, it is well worth a visit.

I just bought a dozen of those jobs that shoot boomers out the end with a flash of colors that shoots about 12 at a time. I use them as squirrel repellents. Works better than my bottle rockets.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

AL

Growing up, I always went to the Spring and Fall Shoots at Friendship, I got to watch a demonstration between some black powder boys and some Indiana National Gaurd.

The gaurd was using M-16s and of course the black powder boys were shooting their large cal long guns, the object of the match was to see who could cut a 1x8 in half the fastest.

The gaurdsman wasted LOTS of ammo, and never cut the board in half, 15 shots the black powder boys had cut the board in half.

I've been to Friendship many times. Friendship is the home of the National Muzzleloading Rifle Association. In fact, the National Rifle Association Muzzleloading Championship matches will be fired at Friendship July 4-8 this year. I'm hoping to make it there to watch.

I don't know what is legal here or not. We shoot off what we want and no one has said a thing.

Yeah your right TexasJoe.Plus in today's San Antonio Express News, due to lack of rain and dry conditions,they are really going to be cracking down on illegal fireworks,etc.

Just my own experience: a few years ago, I got a line with someone who would get me the good ones; the sky rockets, the roman candles, the bigger firecrackers (M80s are still illegal everywhere, I'm pretty sure). It was all wholesale, so I bought lots of stuff, and you'd be surprised at how far a couple hundred dollars will go.

After half a day of setting off fireworks, I was bored by them. Well, most of them. The ones that blew up on the launching pad, those were exciting as hell. So were the ones that went up 10 feet or so then turned sideways... so were the ones that fell over in between ignition and detonation...

I wound up giving away about half of them. And I was cured. To this day, I'm not interested in setting off even a ladyfinger. I enjoy watching the shows. But for personal use? I'm just no longer interested.

I guess it's nothing new here in NE Tennessee but I find it ironic that a lot of the volunteer fire departments sell fireworks as a fund raiser this time of year.

Here in Wyoming you can buy any class c fireworks and some stands have mexican m-80s that are not class c fireworks but are still sold,boom boom!

We noticed assorted packages of fireworks at Costco today. prices ranged from $25 to a Huge box for $259 that would not have fit in our cart! We don't buy'em, we let the kids do it and we watch at their house.

Everything is illegal in Colorado, even sparklers, I think. Every year we watch lots of lovely fireworks and know who went to Wyoming. There are good sponsored shows in most towns.

I like to listen to the police scanner on the 4th. Those poor dispatchers, saying time after time after time, '...report of illegal firewords at...'

Fireworks are legal around here, just not within city limits (Houston). The cops really like to crack down on people trying to sneak them in. Unfortunately, occasionally, someone will substitute a gun for fireworks.

I don't think they are legal in DC, but on the 4th of July, nobody enforces this law. At a park near RFK Stadium, about a block from my house, people come from all over DC and PG County and blow off an array of top of the line firworks. They light them at the park and send them in the direction of the parking lots. Some displays are so impressive, you'd think you were back on the Mall watching the National Fireworks with the Nat'l Symph Orch. It goes on past midnight. By 1am, though, it's over and the police tell people to go home.
The downside, (other than the noise, smell, and possible fire hazard) is that people generally do not clean up after themselves, so the park is littered with the leftover garbage for a week or two, before the city finally sends a clean-up crew to pick up the mess.

People will also continue to do smaller home sized displays at home in the streets throughout the few weeks following Independence Day. With other more pressing concerns, the police do nothing to stop it. By the end of July, firework season in NE DC/East Cap Hill is over.

I'm not sure about the legality of it, but DBF and his best friend go up to a fireworks store in Damascus VA (friendliest little town on the AT!) every summer and pool their money to buy a bunch of fireworks - big ones, small ones, whatever suits their fancy. They are known to set off quite a show on the 4th... both are, shall we say, pyros (but they do know what they're doing!) Last year I just sat back out of the danger zone and watched them do their thing.

I think the police tend to look the other way around Independence Day, legal or not - but if you live in a wildfire-prone area, you might want to keep it low-key.

All my neighbors do them even though they are illegal in Knoxville. It is fun to set on my deck and watch the show over the lake. I never buy them anymore although I use to.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Here in Michigan the only ones that are legal are the chintzy "no fun" ones that do not leave the ground. One has to go to Wisconsin to legally buy the good ones, or downstate Michigan to get ones bootlegged....and then hope you do not get busted lighting them off. Last year my brother bought a few sticks of dynamite outside of Flint, Michigan.......very cool!!! :)

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