Are fireworks legal for you?

[WhiskeyPapa]

I live in Minnesota (The State Where Nothing Is Allowed©) and earlier this year our gov, Jessie Ventura, said he'd like to see a bill on his desk legalizing fireworks. Almost all fireworks have been illegal in Minnesota since the 1940's.

Well, a bill was introduced that looked pretty good. Unfortunately, the house and senate committees cut it down to allowing only sparklers, snakes and those little paper poppers. The only thing that makes it different from other midwestern states is that it allows sales all year, not only the summer months.

That has a bunch of Democrats up in arms. I actually heard a quote from a senator saying that "Minnesota will become a magnet for people from the surrounding states" who will want to buy our sparklers and illegally use them in their own state! What a dork!

I wouldn't drive 2 miles out of my way for sparklers!

[Kim]

Nope, we can only have the kind that stay on the ground, and only on the week of the 4th.

[DoPeY5007]

Originally posted by kb0wwp
I live in Minnesota (The State Where Nothing Is Allowed©)

but don't you have no speed limits?






but some places here in Cali are and some are not... depends on the city

[whitak24]

um, yeah, people are really going to go to minnesota to get some sparklers

in michigan, we have pretty restrictive laws. i mean, you can buy a lot of stuff around fourth of july, but it is mostly little stuff that pops, etc.

indiana is the good place for fireworks around here. they have the least restrictive laws of anyone in the area (michigan, ohio, illinois, and wisconsin too, i think). so a lot of people go down there to buy the "good stuff".

i don't know two much about it though because my mom would NEVER let us have ANYTHING (even sparklers) when i was a kid because she was convinced we would blow ourselves to bits.

[Jeffbx]

Originally posted by DoPeY5007
but don't you have no speed limits?

I think you're thinking of Montana - they have no set speed limit during the daytime on certain roads.

I also live in Michigan, and when I was younger I would make a road trip to Ohio on the 4th to load up. A few years ago (don't know if it's still true) some genius was able to get an law passed that said it was OK to purchase and posess most types of fireworks, but illegal to use them. So, there were certain places you could buy just about anything you wanted, but you had to sign a waiver stating that you wouldn't use them in Michigan.

I'm sure everyone kept their word on THAT rule...

[MJordanash]

Originally posted by DoPeY5007
but don't you have no speed limits?

I thought they had speed limits, at least where we drove through.

[whitak24]

Originally posted by Jeffbx


I think you're thinking of Montana - they have no set speed limit during the daytime on certain roads.

i'm not positive on this (if i weren't so lazy, i'd look it up, but anyway...), but i think even montana got rid of the "no speed limit thing" a couple years ago.

basically, several of the western states used to do it, but idiotic tourists would drive through who didn't understand how to handle their cars at high speeds, and end up in serious accidents

those of us who drive our cars at high speeds anyway wouldn't really have that problem...hehe

[welfareloser]

illegal in illinois, but everyone in my hometown drives across the river to missouri to buy from one of the myriad stands there. ppl will come from an hour away, definitely... and some ppl make six figures working one month a year selling the stuff in the st louis area

[Hopper1]

When I was in Chicago people would drive to Indiana and buy fireworks then try to come back. You could see lines of state patrol waiting to pull people over.

[Speedfreak]

Originally posted by kb0wwp
Unfortunately, the house and senate committees cut it down to allowing only sparklers, snakes and those little paper poppers.

You couldn't even have those papter poppers before the bill?

[brainsmile]

not allowed in San Diego

[WhiskeyPapa]

Originally posted by Speedfreak
You couldn't even have those papter poppers before the bill?

Technically, they were illegal, but you could still buy them at gas stations.

When I was a teenager, it was real easy to get a fireworks permit. You just had to have a city or township official sign a piece of paper. My mom was the township treasurer, so we got fireworks legally every year. Then they tightened up the law so only people with a firefighter's certification could get a permit, and then only for a public display.

What's kind of ironic is that one of the largest fireworks manufacturers in the U.S. is located in the middle of Western Minnesota. They make all the fireworks for Disneyland and Disneyworld.

[OC]

All the "good" stuff is illegal in most states. Thank goodness we have Indian reservations nearby...

-OC

[jase71]

Here in the great state of Wisconsin, it's legal to sell almost anything. You can wander into any of the road-side tents, and buy whatever you want.

It's just illegal to possess or use any of it, unless you have a license.

I've heard of more than one case of troopers watching people load up at a tent, and then pulling them over as soon as they leave, to write 'em a citation for illegal possession.

[Lothar]

yup you can get pretty much anything in wisconsin
luckly, my friends dad is into the business and we can get some really explosive and sweet stuff

[WhiskeyPapa]

Originally posted by jase71
Here in the great state of Wisconsin, it's legal to sell almost anything. You can wander into any of the road-side tents, and buy whatever you want.

It's just illegal to possess or use any of it, unless you have a license.

I've heard of more than one case of troopers watching people load up at a tent, and then pulling them over as soon as they leave, to write 'em a citation for illegal possession.

I've heard about that, and it just burns me.

Someone famous once said "To make the law respected, you must first make it respectable." That's just stupid to allow people to sell fireworks, but make it illegal to own them. If I were a cop in Wisconsin, I'd refuse to enforce that law.

[jase71]

Originally posted by kb0wwp

Someone famous once said "To make the law respected, you must first make it respectable." That's just stupid to allow people to sell fireworks, but make it illegal to own them. If I were a cop in Wisconsin, I'd refuse to enforce that law.

What, and turn down all the revenue from the fines associated with those citations? Not a chance! Big moneymaker in the summer months, busting people for fireworks... not as big as speeding tickets, but hey, collect it where ya can...

Of course, our wonderful state government could just ban the sale of fireworks altogether... but that would get rid of all that wonderful sales tax income that fireworks generate.

This way, they get the best of both worlds!

[cruelpupet]

a few years ago....when guliani cut down on the fireworks (@$$hole) 6 unmarked cars and SUVs swarmed my GF's aunts house...we only had some small stuff, which I can understand them taking since its illegal...but when they took sparklers out of a down syndrome girls hands (GF's cousin), that was just pathetic

[JPR]

As far as I know In Texas fireworks are legal as long as there is no local law against them. For example, in San Antonio it's illegal to posses them but you can site on the other side of the city limits and shoot all you want even though it is the same county.

[sbp]

I believe only sparklers are allowed here in the People's Republik of Maryland. In DC fireworks are legal so people go there to buy. Then the cops sit there and bust them as soon as the boundary line is cro$$ed.

[sbp]

Originally posted by kb0wwp
I live in Minnesota (The State Where Nothing Is Allowed©) and earlier this year our gov, Jessie Ventura, said he'd like to see a bill on his desk legalizing fireworks. Almost all fireworks have been illegal in Minnesota since the 1940's.

Well, a bill was introduced that looked pretty good. Unfortunately, the house and senate committees cut it down to allowing only sparklers, snakes and those little paper poppers. The only thing that makes it different from other midwestern states is that it allows sales all year, not only the summer months.

That has a bunch of Democrats up in arms. I actually heard a quote from a senator saying that "Minnesota will become a magnet for people from the surrounding states" who will want to buy our sparklers and illegally use them in their own state! What a dork!

I wouldn't drive 2 miles out of my way for sparklers!

Let this be a lesson for you all, don't live in a state run by wacky liberals.

cough cough

[topane]

Sparklers are legal in Pennsylvania, but none of the other stuff. I bought a huge pack of fireworks in South Carolina (Pedro's South of the Border -- w00t!) a few years ago and every now and then I set off a few.

[BigJon]

We sell everything here in Ohio...but have to claim that we are transporting them to another state.

[jase71]

Originally posted by sbp
Let this be a lesson for you all, don't live in a state run by wacky liberals.

As said by the guy who lives in the "People's Republik of Maryland".

[WhiskeyPapa]

Originally posted by sbp
Let this be a lesson for you all, don't live in a state run by wacky liberals.

Believe me, if I didn't have so many family/job connections here, I'd move to another state in a second! Minnesota has the third-highest taxes in the nation, and I swear our legislature is working hard to make us number one!

[sbp]

Originally posted by kb0wwp

Believe me, if I didn't have so many family/job connections here, I'd move to another state in a second! Minnesota has the third-highest taxes in the nation, and I swear our legislature is working hard to make us number one!

I feel your pain.

[WhiskeyPapa]

Originally posted by sbp
I feel your pain.

Yeah, if Maryland decided to secede from the union, we'd be number 2!