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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to think fireworks should be banned...

72 replies

wannaBe · 28/10/2007 20:17

... apart from organized, licenced displays.

Still a week t go before november 5th and already it's like world war 3 round here. Ds doesn't like the bangs, my cats are too scared to go out and generally they're just a mennace.

Maybe if people had one night of it I might feel differently but really this setting off fireworks for weeks before and after the event is just rediculous.

And maybe if they were banned we wouldn't have the mamings and injuries and firework related crimes either...

OP posts:
TheDullWitch · 29/10/2007 11:14

Already this very British tradition is being obliterated by the American import, Halloween.

Madamez > I like the cut of yr jib! What is a mundane though?

TheDullWitch · 29/10/2007 11:17

And I think at a time when our democracy and liberal values of freedom of speech, tolerance, secularism and rule of law are being threatened by Islamic fundamentalism, there is no better time to celebrate a scuppered act of terrorism

olala · 29/10/2007 11:18

I;m not an obedient passive mundane! but I really don't like children aged 12 and up running around the flats behind our house playing with fireworks - perhaps there should be MUICH stricter penalties for the shop owners who sell them to underage kids. Mind you, I suppose then they could just get their older dumbo brother to get them for them! Maybe have it so you have to get thru a bit of red tape before you do a display of your own, making sure that only those who were able to get thru the red tape hoops could qualify...does that necessarily mean more sensibles though?
O I don';t know. but I don't feel safe at the moment with all the firewaorks around, and unliek with cars - that you can see coming, and you can to a certain degree anyway, stay out of the road, and look before you cross etc., if someone chucks a firework at you, there is no warning, it just hits, and then whatever happens happens - you have no control over it.

paolosgirl · 29/10/2007 11:24

Obedient passive mundane?

Are you trying to be patronising, or simply unable to formulate a rational arguement without resorting to insults and swearing?

Guess it must be hard when trying to argue with common sense.

totallyfreaky · 29/10/2007 11:27

I agree, while I was in the corner shop the other day with dts, young children started setting them off outside the shop, I was terrified to leave, we had to hover in the shop for a few minutes, then when it was quiet for a minute or 2 we made a run for it to the car.

willbiteyourneckandmakeulikeme · 29/10/2007 11:34

i thought it was illegle for under 18s to be in possesion of fireworks, maybe im wrong. but know what you mean, it goes on for weeks, crazy !

totallyfreaky · 29/10/2007 11:38

It is illegal for under 18s, but they still manage to get hold of them somehow.

GreatBigHairyMonsterlapin · 29/10/2007 11:46

I hate the bloody things, I completely agree with you WannaBe.

Ooh madamez, you're SUCH a rebellious trendy. I guess that frees you from the mundanity of actually having to formulate a rational argument.

TheDullWitch - here's one definition of a mundane. It's a term madamez likes to apply to us.

snowleopard · 29/10/2007 11:47

Oooh madamez, what is a mundane? It sounds like an extremely useful term.

Fireworks are banned for under-18s. If organised displays are OK and family back garden fun is OK, then that means fireworks are going to be available. And you can see why bored teenagers are going to like them. They're exciting, fun and dangerous to mess about with - exactly what adolescents, especially boys, tend to hanker after. Kids who are doing this are probably the slightly nicer sort who can't actually get their hands on a gun. The problem is that they're so available and

I would support stricter controls on imports and selling laws, and I agree, a proper telly safety campaign wouldn't go amiss. Is it really more of a nanny state now than when we grew up? Because I seem to remember in the 70s and 80s we had a lot of extraordinarily memorable and effective public health and safety campaigns that really worked and that nobody whinged about. Road safety, firework safety, AIDS and heroin are just a few examples that I remember clearly and that worked on me - where are they now?

snowleopard · 29/10/2007 11:48

oops ....and uncontrolled

NoNameToday · 29/10/2007 11:56

So, of all the complainers, how many lit fireworks as children?

Go on, hands up those who did everything which they shouldn't have done? according to today's rules of acceptable behaviour.

This is going to be an almighty boring sterile life in the not too distant future.

No fireworks, they're noisy & dangerous

No bonfires,they're smelly, dirty & dangerous

No fairground rides, they're dangerous & noisy

No street parties, they're dirty, noisy, dangerous and terribly lower class

No festivals, they're noisy, smelly, dangerous, drug fuelled, costly to police.

No school sports day, they're noisy, too competetive, cause traffic pollution, OMG think of all the 4x4's

No street football, it's noisy, dangerous, competetive, could give your child an inferiority complex, they may even sport a Beckham hairdo for goodness sake!

No Bonny Baby Competitions................. OMG the angst involved in those! and the resultant noise from the losing mothers.

No barbeques, too noisy, smelly, dangerous,
fire hazard, food poisoning hazard. accompanying increased alcohol intake hazard.

Any one else got a potential hazard to ban? or are they acceptable providing they are
NIMBY?

GreatBigHairyMonsterlapin · 29/10/2007 12:03

Sorry, NoNameToday, but I think that is a ridiculous post.

Fireworks are hazardous in the wrong hands. They EXPLODE, for god's sake. You can't say that about a street party.

However I don't think there is any point in arguing with people like you or madamez who seem to think that any controls or restrictions on anything are unnecessary.

VioletBaudelaire · 29/10/2007 12:04

We always have a Bonfire Party on the weekend following Bonfire Night.

We invite all the neighbours, and the fireworks are usually over by 9.00pm.

We also save a few fireworks for New Year's Eve.

I would be very sad if we were unable to buy fireworks because they had been banned.

The children adore watching them, and they make the evening really special.

The knee-jerk reaction in this country seems to be to ban things for everyone because we are afraid/incapable/too tied up in red tape of tackling the ones that cannot, and do not, behave responsibly.

I find that very sad.

NoNameToday · 29/10/2007 12:07

So another's opinion is discounted because it doesn't agree with yours?

Perhaps the lack of community spirit has a bearing on situations.

There are many situations where 'banning' is the easy way out.

EmsMum · 29/10/2007 12:10

Access to explosives should be limited.
Proper displays, and adults - who perhaps should have to complete some sort of competence/safety test. Thats one of the differences with driving, unless Madamez and the like think joyriding is an ok thing?

NoNameToday · 29/10/2007 12:10

And yes GreatBigHairyMonsterLapin, I am well aware of the potential for danger, from lots of things.

GreatBigHairyMonsterlapin · 29/10/2007 12:11

NNT, you exaggerated massively, that's why I thought your post was ridiculous. I'm sure you can make rational and valid arguments for why fireworks shouldn't be banned, but saying "ooh, why not ban EVERYTHING" is neither rational nor valid.

OrmIrian · 29/10/2007 12:12

I don't want them banned. I love them. Sorry but I do. And yes I agree they can be a pita when people let them off constantly these days. The problem is with the morons who mess about with them, not the fireworks. But I still love them. The time I really object to them is at New Year though - never used to have them that time of year. Every house in the area seems to let some off at midnight and it goes on for hours and hours. That really is like WWIII.

And I don't buy the idea that Bonfire Night is just about Guy Fawkes. It's got much older roots than that.

NoNameToday · 29/10/2007 12:17

Just one small stepLapin, unfortunately that's how things are going, loss of one freedom today and who knows what we may lose tomorrow?

Don't misunderstand me, I am all for living a straight and proper life and abiding by the law, I just feel that so much of our freedom is being eroded and we allow it!

MadMumsy · 29/10/2007 12:23

I totally agree. Ban the damned things they are a nightmare. They scare old people, children, animals and why on earth do we have to have them for weeks on end. If it just stayed to November 5th that would be fine but it doesn't.

Rant over!!!!

GreatBigHairyMonsterlapin · 29/10/2007 12:25

NNT, I agree with you about the erosion of freedom, and also that we don't need a nanny state but I still believe some things should be tightly controlled. We have youths (horrible word, but they aren't just teenagers IYSWIM) throwing fireworks in the street around here. They are old enough to legally buy them, so that doesn't stop this behaviour. What is the answer?

TBH, I really don't see the point of fireworks, I've never been a fan and could happily live without ever seeing another fireworks display, so I guess it wouldn't feel like a freedom being removed for me personally.

NoNameToday · 29/10/2007 12:33

That's the problem Lapin, I do not have a problem with the right of people ,youth's or other, to buy them.

The freedom to use them in an inappropriate manner is what needs addressing.

I understand that if they can't buy them, they can't misuse them, but there are many legislations to prevent people from acting in badly, unfortunately, it doesn't stop them. it doesn't stop them.

fawkeoff · 29/10/2007 12:37

i dont think they should necessarily be banned all together, but it is ridiculous that they sell them weeks before and after bonfire night.i personally cant be arsed to stand out in the cold while dp lets off 50 quids worth of bangers into the air....it makes me want to cry

GreatBigHairyMonsterlapin · 29/10/2007 12:54

how do we stop the inappropriate usage then? There must be penalties for that sort of thing (ie throwing them in the street etc) but I imagine they are not particularly stringent - admittedly that is a guess!

OrmIrian · 29/10/2007 13:05

I must admit i've not witnessed dangerous behaviour with fireworks. Maybe if I did it would change my mind.

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