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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Would you be in favour of banning fireworks (other than scheduled displays?)

208 replies

FlippidyFlop · 23/10/2020 14:11

YABU - people should be allowed to let them off any time of the year in their own gardens etc...

YANBU - there is no need to let fireworks off at random times of the year and they should be kept to scheduled displays so people know when to expect them.

OP posts:
lynsey91 · 23/10/2020 20:27

@Halliehallie9828

They don’t bother me.. but I don’t have any pets and I think they are pretty... they only go of for a short amount of time
Except they don't only go off for a short amount of time. Where I used to live and where lots of my friends still live there are fireworks just about every night from about 29th October until mid November and then a short break and they start again in December and, if people are lucky, stop around 2nd January.

We are talking hours of very loud fireworks, often those loud bang ones that sound like a bomb and literally rattle the windows. The often start even before it gets dark and go on until late, often gone midnight.

Friend's pets are terrified and one friend has to give her dog tranquillisers night after night and still her dog shakes and drools.

My dog was never scared in the slightest of them until one day I was walking him and some idiot let one off as we walked past their garden. It was still daylight and not bonfire night or halloween. He has been terrified ever since.

They cause distress to so many animals, both pets and wildlife. They cause upset and stress to elderly people, people with dementia, people with ptsd.

They also cause injury to lots of wildlife. Last year in my area I read of 2 dogs that were so scared they fled their garden in terror and one got run over and killed and the other ran onto the train line and was killed. There were also horses injured as they ran in panic, one went into premature labour and lost her foal.

I have read that fireworks have been thrown at police, firemen and ambulance crews, put through letterboxes and set houses/flat alight, thrown at people.

They definitely 100% should be banned

gingganggooleywotsit · 23/10/2020 20:30

omg Can't believe how many people are against it. It's really not that big a deal in the scheme of things!

gingganggooleywotsit · 23/10/2020 20:32

I DO think they should only be allowed for one night only though. It's ridiculous the way they are let off for weeks.

spacegirl86 · 23/10/2020 20:34

Definitely 100%

stillsomewhatsheldonesque · 23/10/2020 20:35

Ok then. I’ll remember that it isnt a big deal in the scheme of things when my nightmares kick off.

That’ll sort it.

TeamLucille · 23/10/2020 20:36

@gingganggooleywotsit

omg Can't believe how many people are against it. It's really not that big a deal in the scheme of things!
I like them. They are not a big deal for you.

You can still realise that they are much worst than a small inconvenience for others? Which is why I agree with the OP. They need to be banned or severely restricted.

I won't lose anything because of it, and others will benefit a lot. There's not one valid reason to allow joe public to carry on.

Dugee · 23/10/2020 20:37

I'd ban them, other than scheduled displays, as they frighten animals.

Davros · 23/10/2020 20:37

No

Borris · 23/10/2020 20:39

Yes except for sparklers

gingganggooleywotsit · 23/10/2020 20:48

I guess we don't really need them. It's just nice in these dark times to have a little event to look forward to. I only have catherine wheel and fountain type ones in my garden though, not big rockets, and I do warn my neighbours.

Generalblah · 23/10/2020 20:48

Fireworks on Bonfire Night and New Years Eve is acceptable. There aren’t many things for people to enjoy nowadays without someone wanting to complain.

Live and let live.

the80sweregreat · 23/10/2020 20:57

Yes op! The noise and the upset it causes pets is annoying and cruel as well as being dangerous in the wrong hands. I've never liked them. All my pet owning friends dread it as their poor animals either go mad or have to be sedated and it can drag on for days as well. I know I sound a Scrooge but time for them to be banned, especially at new years. One year they were still going off at 3 am keeping me awake!

Dugee · 23/10/2020 21:00

Where I used to live and where lots of my friends still live there are fireworks just about every night from about 29th October until mid November

They've already started near me Confused

GallopingGreen · 23/10/2020 21:08

Agree with majority here- absolutely hate them! They've been going like mini bombs for weeks here already and usually in the hands of gangs of teenagers. So intimidating even when you're in your own home.

"Their sale should be restricted to licenced individuals and their use should be restricted to scheduled licenced displays only." 100%

loubieloo4 · 23/10/2020 21:11

Ban them, display only.

I'm so worried that my poor puppy is going to have a heart attack one day 😢 I would be more agreeable if they were a set night for festivals, my poor puppy is currently hiding under 2 blankets shaking like a leaf 😖 it's the bloody 23rd of October ffs. I'm hoping Sainsbury's bans them again this year.

lurker101 · 23/10/2020 21:17

Yes - they’ve been very successfully “banned” in NI for about 15 years. If you want fireworks in NI you need to apply in advance for a licence specifying who will be responsible for setting them off and specify a date/time period for the licence. Only then can you purchase them and set them off. It has vastly reduced the amount of sporadic “displays” of a handful of unsettling fireworks and has made it much more enjoyable to go to an organised display

MiddleClassMother · 23/10/2020 21:34

I don't have many near me as I'm rural, in quite an affluent area so mainly old people here. However I stayed at a friends house last year in the city centre and it was awful! They should absolutely ban them. Surely it's terrible for air quality and the environment too?

KitKatastrophe · 23/10/2020 21:35

@OoohTheStatsDontLie

I'm not sure but either way anyone using them should be considerate and let other households nearby that they will be using them so they can deal with any scared pets and children etc
I live on an estate of over 100 houses, pretty close together. If someone is planning to let off fireworks should they be putting a note through the door of 100 houses to let them know in advance?
PathThreeTwoOne · 23/10/2020 21:43

I honestly don’t mind fireworks being banned privately but as a compromise you could either introduce some form of license or restrict public use to only smaller colourful ones and ban all rocket type fireworks.

ToastyCrumpet · 23/10/2020 21:46

People more or less stopped buying them in the 70s. I don’t know why they would want something so dangerous near their kids. I hate the things and always have.

Krampusasbabysitter · 23/10/2020 22:24

There is no need for anyone to let off fireworks. None whatsoever. It is deeply harmful to wildlife, pets, and a massive source of stress to many people suffering from PDST. Year after year, it has gotten worse with more and more people becoming deeply anti-social letting off fireworks for days on end, not just the one evening. I also find it really weird how so many items and ingredients can no longer be bought, such a peroxide over a certain strength due to fear over creating explosive devices, yet you can get hold of extremely powerful firework, which would allow you to collect quite a bit of black powder. Fireworks should be strictly controlled, i.e. only allowed to set off by special license, and ideally be noiseless or at least of very low sound.

ShelbyCherryBlossom · 23/10/2020 22:30

If you live in complete isolation then crack on, but if you have neighbours then no thank you. They terrify pets and wildlife, reck havoc on the environment, cause unnecessary injuries, and can seriously upset those with special needs.

I'm deaf and I think they should be banned so god knows what it's like for everyone else!

MustStopSnacking28 · 23/10/2020 22:33

I have always been terrified of fireworks except for organised displays so on a personal level 100%. Also kids/animals hate them. Antisocial behaviour. Bad for the environment. Etc etc. But mainly I am so scared so would love them gone!

stillsomewhatsheldonesque · 23/10/2020 22:43

If it was only on the two nights general I could manage that but it isn’t. And if it was just the more genteel fireworks I think it would be ok.

But when fireworks sound like an oncoming missile or an ied going off in a residential area for weeks on end, it troubles me.

Having managed to make it safely through my service and knowing friends and colleagues who didn’t, I had the bad luck to also be in the vicinity of an attack when in civvies.

I’m not ‘complaining’ at two nights of the year. But it is well beyond that and they get in the hands of people who really don’t care what happens to those around them or if they injure someone, scare animals or destroy property.

Live and let live? Fair enough. But when it takes me back to being in absolute fear and remembering colleagues, it is hard. When it affects others and animals? It is deeply selfish and unfair.

I can try and rationalise it but I still wake up scrambling for my kit in terror. How could you try to make an animal understand it probably Won’t hurt them when I struggle to understand that straight out of sleep?

The terror is real. And despite it being years ago, sometimes it is so hard.

stillsomewhatsheldonesque · 23/10/2020 22:46

Incoming. Sorry.

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