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

They are a major part of my religion and I hate it that in Hindu / Chinese / Sikh areas it’s usually white UKIP / BNP types stirring the pot to remove them from the run up to Diwali. In actuality the dickheads who set off fireworks in the day or at unsociable hours or use them as weapons are white kids who get their hands on them because their parents bought them for them!

Ever=rev above.

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.
Yes - also, this! Many people are very frightened of dogs, some for good reason, and many more find them and other pets annoying or disruptive. Some dog owners are very irresponsible in the way they handle their dogs and as a result the dogs are dangerous. Should all dogs also be banned? Or just limited to "organised displays" - like a dog zoo maybe. It's just not practical to ban or restrict everything that could possibly upset anybody 🤷🏼‍♀️

I love them. I understand they are dangerous and we need to be sensible.
But i have second thoughts now as they cause loads of litter. I prefer non-flying ones personally.

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.

It isn’t the pet owners who are on the receiving end of what you see as justice for the inconvenience caused by their animals. You are serving your revenge on the animals themselves. Are you happy with that?

You are serving your revenge on the animals themselves. Are you happy with that?
the same for fireworks really

I like fireworks. I would be perfectly happy for them to be limited to organised m, licensed displays with notice in the local area do that those who have problems with them have some notice.

I posted on that other thread. The problem is, as nobody who wants anything banned can see, is that when you start banning stuff you open iup legislation to continue banning things.

When you want to ban something on the basis of dislike you have to be clear that you phrase your ban properly. Otherwise you get PETA like stances being taken - as some posters do every time this comes up!

Legislate to continue to reduce all of the harms fireworks do, but don't just state "They must be banned cos animals / people" that just gets a roibust push back!

Totalitarian states are not great places to live. Be very careful how you go about signing a myriad petitions, joining social media good causes because you find something annoying. You have no idea what you could be building!

My dog has no issue with fireworks what so ever. And he’s a chihuahua. He doesn’t even blink when they’re set off.

But fireworks are the one things that I feel completely and utterly happy when watching. I get quite low sometimes but this time of year with fireworks going off left right and centre I am genuinely very happy. I absolutely love them.

It isn’t the pet owners who are on the receiving end of what you see as justice for the inconvenience caused by their animals. You are serving your revenge on the animals themselves. Are you happy with that?.

Revenge? Don't be ridiculous. Not all animals are distressed by fireworks. Our dogs didn't like them and would snuggle up to me, but it was just an inconvenience. They didn't drop foaming at the mouth as you are implying all animals do. Most dog owners I know have families who love fireworks, so it must be a relatively few vociferous pet owners kicking up all this fuss trying to ruin the fun of many, many people in the community.

I would support tighter controls on who buys them as I don't understand how idiotic teenagers get them but small family displays are great fun and good for families who can't get out. DS1 is in a wheelchair and you try pushing one of those up a wet muddy hillside?

I love fireworks. Hate organised displays. Neighbours' dogs bark constantly.

It is illegal to use fireworks at home where I live. I can't say my life has suffered as an effect.

I agree. I went to a wonderful display on Saturday. It really was spectacular and a joy to watch. Also it was lovely to see the community coming together and people of all ages enjoying a night out. However, I do think it should be limited to one or 2 nights this week. When it happens every night for more than a week it's a bit much and very distressing for animals.

I am sure there must be a way to recreate the magic of fireworks without the noise/fire risk/potential injury. I bet if fireworks ever are banned people who love them would come up with an idea sharpish, shame they can't do that for the sake of others.

I'm really surprised by all the reports of distressed dogs. Do a lot of people have really poor quality windows etc? We live near a couple of biggish displays and you can barely hear them inside with Windows shut.

I love fireworks but wouldn't have an issue with restricting their use to a handful of dayes (5th Nov & a weekend near by, Diwali, NYE etc).

I do also hope dog owners are sensible and arent choosing to take dogs outside when they are on etc.

I love them and love bonfire night we always have a party.
I'm always surprised that in this day of strict health and safety that they're still allowed on general sale but I'm glad they are.

@yellowallpaper

They didn't drop foaming at the mouth as you are implying all animals do.

Please tell me where I implied this.

My dog used to go mental. Now they don't bother her. I think she might be a bit deaf.

There are all kinds of non essential things that people do which impacts on the environment and other people around them. Pet dogs, for example, put almost twice as many people in hospital every year as fireworks do. Pet cats kill 247 million creatures a year, 27 million of them birds.

Just ban everything.

I would like to see them only available to licensed professionals and their use restricted to certain nights of the year (NYE, Diwali, Nov 5th, probably a few more). When there's a major event (eg royal jubilee, olympics) a temporary exception could be granted, but it would need to be a big event with lots of publicity, so people were aware.

A friend had to move because a hotel a couple of miles (yes, miles) from her home became a wedding venue, then started to offer a firework display as part of the "package". She got sick of being startled out of her wits half the Saturdays in the summer months, children woken at 10pm and frightened or too excited to go to sleep, never knowing when a quiet evening with friends would be disturbed and disrupted by a racket like a small war going on and just generally feeling like she couldn't relax at weekends for a good chunk of the year.

A golf club not far from where DP used to live started doing the same. You'd be sitting in the garden of the pub enjoying a quiet pint, and all of sudden you'd be subjected to bangs so loud you'd be tempted to dive for cover (bloody made me spill my beer once, too!).

Another friend lived in a quiet street opposite a sports ground. This became the venue for an annual concert with fireworks, about 50 yards from her house. She got sick of having to put the cat in a cattery and go away for the night once a year, and moved.

In East Sussex, they're firework mad. The bonfire "season" starts on the 3rd weekend in September, and goes on till the 3rd weekend in November. Even some quite small villages have their own "bonfire societies". All the other societies descend by the coachload to participate in these events. They go back to their own towns/villages, half cut, and let off rookscarers in the street on their way home, which can be well into the early hours of the morning. It goes on most weekends.

After the dreadful fire at a Sussex firework factory, where "licensed professionals" failed to store fireworks properly and 2 firefighters died, I think the regulation and inspection of firework professionals' and their premises should be tightened up, too. Those fireworks could be heard 10 miles away.

I love to see them though. Silent fireworks could be allowed any time!

I understand people enjoy bonfire night. I don’t understand why people let them off during the day, fire off a couple at night, fire them off early ours of the morning, don’t pick up the rubbish. I’m the owner of a petrified dog. I could prepare for an organised event, I can’t prepare for random days or times between November & January.

Yeah, this is how great they are.

Fireworks cause extensive air pollution in a short amount of time, leaving metal particles, dangerous toxins, harmful chemicals and smoke in the air for hours and days. Some of the toxins never fully decompose or disintegrate, but rather hang around in the environment, poisoning all they come into contact with.
www.terrapass.com › firewor...
Fireworks: Their Impact on the Environment - terrapass

Much as I have fond memories of my parents setting off fireworks from the bottom of the garden (crop fields behind them), I think there are too many idiots about to allow sale to the general public.

However, I'm not sure how this leave Diwali, Chinese New Year, and other festivals that traditionally set off fireworks - certainly round here you would need to travel quite a way to get to somewhere celebrating those festivals. The timing of Duwali often leads to comments about early or late firework displays, as the date falls October /Nov time.

I'm also intrigued by the PP who said the Chinese originally developed silent fireworks. My memories of Chinese New Year in Hong Kong are the most crazy loud firecrackers going off in strings containing 100s (if not 1000s) of bangs. I wonder where the 2 ideas met.

I guess laser or other light shows shows would be a silent replacement for fireworks. Lasers need to be professional shows only, or everyone will be burnt and blind from misuse.

I do also hope dog owners are sensible and arent choosing to take dogs outside when they are on etc.

You dint have to choose to go out. The fireworks go off all the evening, sometimes during the day as well. If the dog needs to wee or poo then you have to go out, it’s a necessity, not a choice.

We go to a big display each year that involves a long walk up through an abbey. I love it, the walk with everyone in the dark with our thermos of hot chocolate is one of the highlights of my year. Funnily enough I'm not that fussed about the fireworks but can't deny I get a lot of joy from the night itself.

I love fireworks. Have a tonne of really fond memories from displays as a child and as an adult. However, I do believe they should be restricted to a specific time period, and at displays. Anything beyond that should be only allowed for license holders (eg. Weddings, celebrations etc).

We've actually had a little display in our garden and it wasn't until the next day when I saw all the mess that I really wondered why we'd bothered and the impact of those around us. My mum has a dog who is terrified of fireworks and in the rural area she lives there are many private displays going off from end of Oct-Xmas. I don't own pets but I understand the impact it has on them, and those who suffer from PTSD.

So, whilst I'll always love them, I know limiting them to public, professional displays might be the way forward rather than just common use for all.