Positives of fireworks

[bangbangpow]

NC for this as I don't want this to descend into a bun fight from the anti-fireworkers.

I've only ever seen negative firework related threads on MN. People spouting on about how they're dangerous (which I completely agree they are if used improperly) and how they noise distresses pets (despite the neighbours dog's ongoing barking distressing me year round).

I personally love fireworks. They're great fun, bring people together and the whole family (multiple families) can enjoy them together.

This is a thread about why fireworks should not be banned and how people use them themselves responsibly.

Personally we, every year, attend a family fireworks party every year on one of my uncles fields. There is a large bonfire, everyone brings a dish and fireworks are set off a large distance from where we all stand watching them. The display lasts maximum 1 hour and the neighbours are also invited.

Please share your positive fireworks stories and reasons they should not be banned (though I completely agree they should be heavily regulated like alcohol).

From a bonfire night lover x

I like them.
DD likes them.
They're pretty.
I love the smell.
We only go to organised displays like the local authorities or school.
I'd have no issue with them being banned for home use. Too many people that are dumb,reckless and drunk.
Someone was setting them off yesterday nearby,and whatever it was must've fallen down because they went every which way horizontally (hit a van,some garages, went in the bushes etc).

The foxes around here were making an awful racket,

I actually considered taking my son to an organised display but had second thoughts, I don't want to teach him that it is OK to put his own enjoyment above the welfare of vulnerable animals and people.

I should really get off my high horse now (before it get set a flame by an errant firework). I am being sarcastic again BUT before I get deleted I would like to point out that a horse really was burnt when their hay caught fire from a firework that just happened to land on it.

But I mean fuck severe burns every year from misuse
I couldn’t care less if the idiots burn themselves. But I do care when they’re putting them through people’s letterboxes, throwing them at toddlers, attacking emergency services personnel, flinging them at cars and causing accidents, tying them to cats tails... It’s a minority of people but the police obviously can’t put a stop to it so they need to be banned.

I said this earlier on another thread, I live on an estate that is in the middle of the countryside. The very many fireworks have scared lots of deer over the past few nights and they keep bolting across roads, where they keep being maimed/killed. It is carnage.

I installed a letter box lock this year because I just don’t want to risk anything. In the next town over it was also carnage with kids letting them off across a supermarket car park

I get zero enjoyment out of the vast majority of sad looking barely sparkly (private garden) fireworks - it’s not exactly like being at Disney World, they seem to make more noise than have anything to display

.

Actually @Stealthymcstealth you've totally changed my mind and from now on I'm going to adopt your approach. Next time my kids want to watch a marvel film I'll tell them that it's wrong to put their own enjoyment over the harm that the film industry does what with Weinstein et al plus of course just think about the difference it would make to the lives of forest animals if the money spent on it was given to them instead. When they want to have a day out I'll remind them that this selfishly involves polluting the atmosphere as we travel there not to mention the thousands of animals killed by transport every year so best not.

I'm really looking forward to spending the rest of our lives performing only essential actions that have absolutely no impact on anyone or anything else in the world. #makingmemories

I love fireworks. I have pets, who are not bothered. My old cat was but we just kept her in and put the tv on a bit louder.

I hear motor bikes outside louder than fireworks 🤷‍♀️

Imagine fireworks didn't exist. Imagine you just invented a colourful and affordable dangerous explosive that commemorated a very old historic event. Imagine you got permission for corner shops and supermarkets to sell it to anyone who looked old enough. Imagine no one said it was an offensive weapon, although it was misused aggressively on occasion against the emergency services. Imagine no one prosecuted those who caused serious harm and even death to animals and wildlife as a result of your invention. Imagine no one banned this invention despite many many children being injured severely since it was on the market. Just imagine.

I CAN'T IT'S TOO HORRIFIC

It's not the fireworks that are the issue in themselves. It's the fact they end up in the hands of irresponsible idiots over and over again, and that causes suffering. And that's why I think they need much stronger restrictions than currently apply. People setting them off on the beach close to where I work, at 1am the other night in the wind and pissing rain - what was the point of that? All it did was set all the local dogs off barking for an hour and piss off local residents that had been sleeping. I don't see a positive to that, and it's not the only time or location they're being randomly set off either. I'm working tomorrow night and I'm worried about standing at the bus stop, the journey, and hoping I don't come home to a pile of ashes in the morning!
I don't want to spoil anyone's fun, I'm more than willing to make arrangements for my dogs (going out with my DB for the evening and he'll drop them off in the morning) so they're out of the way and not distressed. But I can't do that for the two weeks either side of the night itself, for random home displays and idiots setting them off.
I also think the cost to the emergency services and hospitals needs to be taken into consideration. I know a firefighter, he's never had a bonfire night off because it's all hands on deck.
It's obvious that despite some controls on sale, despite laws like it being an offence to set them off close to horses and livestock and cause distress, they're still a big problem and still end up in the wrong hands. As it can't be policed effectively then it needs to become harder to get hold of them. No more shop sales, licenced retailers to licenced professionals only - who are responsible for what they buy and set off.

I wouldn't have an issue if the majority of people used them responsibly, but my own experience over the years says that they don't.

OP

YABVVVVVVU

HTH

I love fireworks. I particularly love doing them at home due to the added excitement of the element of danger! I would be very sad if the fun sponges got them banned. Professional displays are nowhere near as much fun.

@MiniMum97“ I particularly love doing them at home due to the added excitement of the element of danger!”

The danger that you might injure a mini? Mmmmkay....

@AutumnRose1 injure a mini????

I would be very sad if the fun sponges got them banned.

"Fun Sponges"?!! So as long as you can have your fun you don't give a toss about the impact on vulnerable people and animals? Vile.

Goodnightseamer, an all or nothing approach? Sure, I'll also teach him that it doesn't matter if he hits other children because someone, somewhere, maybe on the other side of the planet just littered

There were a lot of fireworks around here last night, seemed to be from one house though, probably just a family display that was handled in a safe and appropriate way, I still had to explain the dead squirrel and hedgehog to my son on the walk to school this morning.

Lol I wish I'd heard that explanation.

Goodnightseamer, he grasped the explanation pretty well and he's four, makes me wonder why the connection between the death of wildlife and fireworks seems so difficult for adults to grasp, no one can be that stupid so I guess it is just willful ignorance driven by self-indulgence.

I don’t have an issue with them during public displays. I do have a problem with them being used in people’s tiny gardens. It’s dangerous and an absolute nuisance.

I haven’t been to fireworks display in years. I do enjoy them, especially at large events where there is rides etc for the kids. However these days certain people cannot be trusted in the near future they will more than likely be banned only for sake if your having a large event. I do worry for dogs & would check with all owners if I thought their animals would get distressed - if that’s the case I wouldn’t have a fireworks display

I would go to an organised display if there was a quiet one. I like fireworks but not huge bangers that shake the ground. DS2 has autism and the crowds and noise are too much. So we do our own. A few sparklers and fountain type things. I hope all the killjoys don't succeed in having children like mine further marginalised and excluded.

I used to like fireworks. Now that most of them sound like bombs going off I hate them.

I also hate the fact that they start at the beginning of October and go on night after night for weeks. That is not exaggeration either.

I love them. I feel sorry for some pet owners whose animals are distressed, but it's relatively unusual to have fireworks and they give enormous pleasure to families and communities.

Pet owners need to be less condemnatory and more live and let live. I put up with barking dogs, dog mess on pathways and neighbors cats using my garden as a toilet.

I love bonfire night. I probably prefer it over Christmas. I like how communities bundle up against the cold and come together to marvel at something beautiful. I like that it happens just after the clocks go back when many people are feeling a bit down about the darker evenings - the more warmth and colour and light we can work into our dreary UK winters, the better IMHO.
I don't want to live in a society where everything that's potentially upsetting is banned. I find it distressing when motorcyclists ever their engines really loudly at a traffic light or roar loudly down the street, following a serious accident involving a motorbike a few years ago. But I don't think motorbikes or revving your engine should be banned to accommodate my distress, because I'm very much in a minority.
We have double glazing in our house and, with the doors and windows closed, the sound of even local fireworks is quite muffled. With the TV or radio on you'd barely notice it. Not a useful solution for deer out in the forests or horses in their stables obviously, but for people with PTSD or pet cats and dogs, it doesn't HAVE to be a terrifying thing. I do think the purchase age could be raised to 21 though if teenagers are chasing kids through the streets with them as a PP mentioned above!