To ask that fireworks are no longer available except for organised gatherings

[HurryUpSpringDays]

After another NY being woken by neighbours' fireworks, AIBU?
They are dangerous (every year someone is injured on Nov 5) and very anti social.

If they aren't banned for personal use, they could be made noiseless only.

I know people will think I'm a party pooper and come along with 'It's only one night of the year' (it's not actually as some neighbours let them off on birthdays and other personal anniversaries.)

People just don't seem to appreciate that not everyone is up at midnight, some people are ill and don't want to be woken up, (in my own family there is someone on treatment for Stage 4 cancer, others with Covid) some people have pets and babies who're disturbed, etc.

Fireworks are traditionally used to clear the air. That is why they are let off. We have bonfires, too. Are you wanting to ban those

yes I said that upthread. Garden bonfires are anti-social at best and dangerous at worst.

I propose the Bonfire and Firework Controls Act.

It must vary a lot across the UK. @enchantedsquirrelwood

Bonfires are banned in many areas.

They have been banned for years where my parents live. No bonfires of any kind allowed or solid fuel (coal) fires, only smokeless.

They are not banned where I am, as we are not (yet) a smokeless zone. There is an anti-social order around them however, where someone can report nuisance bonfires to environmental health. And the burning of noxious substances like plastic is banned.

I've heard that they were originally used in china to ward of evil spirits or something but never any stories they were used to "clean the air" - modern fireworks introduce cocktail of harmful chemicals into the air.

I agree they shouldn't be sold for private use, if only because they are dangerous.

Sadly, life is not safe. There are already controls on fireworks and bonfires. Fireworks may only be sold to those over 18 and only appear in the shops where I live in the run-up to Diwali, Eid el Fitr and Guy Fawkes, and then for New Year. Bonfires can only be lit after dusk and the fire brigade will turn up to out-of-control fires and neighbours will call, and I have done this. Fireworks are heavily controlled, being locked up in shops, and permitted only before 11 pm, except at Diwali and New Years Eve, when the cut off is midnight/1 a.m. This seems entirely reasonable. People cannot be restricted in everything they do. Banning something or making it overly restricted results in black markets, dodgy and therefore dangerous goods etc (not that I support the legalisation of drugs - that is a whole different can of worms). Compared to my childhood, when fireworks were really only available around Guy Fawkes, but could be purchased by children and included such items as jumping jacks and hold-in-the hand candles restrictions are now tight - and the number of accidents have fallen, thank goodness. Yes, if you have a baby, cats, or dogs it can be difficult, but I have had all three and not been that bothered by fireworks, they all slept through them, though my son saw his first fireworks when he was about 14 months old, since he was born in September. He liked them.

I agree with regulation but not a complete ban.

People are all for letting everyone “have fun” with explosives until there are teenagers playing with them down their street. Maybe adults shouldn’t be normalising them and companies shouldn’t be making them available to every idiot going.

It’s not just dogs though is it? It can really mess with local wildlife. Fun is fine, but not at others expense, no one needs fireworks to have fun

We only seem to ever hear them on Diwali and Chinese new year!

Kitchen knives are dangerous - and vegetable chopping knives (the big ones) are the ones most often used in domestic murders. Shall we ban kitchen knives because they are dangerous?

The local wildlife will be a lot tougher than that. They are not stupid and probably know that as the evenings draw in the time of loud bangs and lights in the sky is coming round. They are sentient beings, after all, and this has been going on for generations.

Yeah - add Cigarettes and booze whilst you're at it?

There are loads of things no one "needs" to have in order to have fun and loads of things that equate to fun at the expense of others. Eg Parkrun gets in the way of quiet enjoyment of the park so ban it!

If you live in the UK bonfires around November 5th will not be banned.

I agree, it should be organised events only not to the general public.

I am lucky now I’ve moved I never hear fireworks go off but in my previous house it was a real big cause of stress having unexpected ones go off and it would cause me to have a meltdown.

Mmm, I'll vote for this at about the same time they change the law to say that dogs must be kept on.leads in public places and cats must be confined to their owners property. Two things that would be excellent for our native wildlife.

I would go one further and ban the fucking things entirely. They are boring and people who like them are boring. Kids aren’t arsed, it always childish adults who lose their minds over things going ‘bang’. I realise I sound a miserable cow and I don’t care. 😂

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5f92de15d3bf7f35f06ae3b4/fireworks-evidence-submission-rspca.pdf

Research has been done in farm animals showing how the stress of fireworks affects them, harder to conduct research on wild animals but still evidence to show they have a fear response

Plenty of research out there to show that wild animals show a fear response to dogs and cats. And not just a fear response, greater mortality, more nest failures, disturbance to patternsvof feeding and resting.

Dog/cat owners need to tend to the beam in their own eyes before worrying about the effect of fireworks on wildlife.

Sure, a line needs to be drawn somewhere. There’s been a lot of examples and evidence of the negative impact on animals. You don’t have to care, but I do, and it leads me to believe personal fireworks should be banned (added reason for me being my grandma who suffered ptsd which fireworks really impacted her),

to me there’s a difference between a fun activity that causes annoyance, like a parkrun, versus one that causes actual harm, like fireworks.

I don’t understand the ‘look over there’ argument here. We are talking about fireworks. There is absolutely an argument to be had about the impact of domesticated animals on local wildlife, but why have that here?

They're never going to get Banned

And don't see the point in noiseless ones. Wouldn't be the same.

TBF, these threads appear every January and November. You can say it on an anonymous forum until you're blue in the face but that doesn't change anything. It's pointless to complain or "ask" on here for things to change and then not do anything about it in the real world.

Thankfully real life is a bit more reasonable than threads on here.