Should fireworks be banned from public sale?

[Toffeeappletoty]

Last night a group of teens/young men were setting of fireworks on the central reservation of a dual carriageway they were running across the road, it was shocking to witness.

There was also an incident in the city centre with people throwing fireworks at members of the public.

Is it time to ban them altogether from public sale? I’ve long though that they should only be permitted for licensed organised displays.

But having said that I was talking to dh and I have many happy childhood memories of bonfire night with a few fireworks in the back garden, all done safely and finished by 8pm.

We were saying that lots of things are dangerous in the wrong hands, knives, alcohol, and there are laws around fireworks already. But some don’t follow the law, but that’s the same for lots of things.

I always find mumsnet is very anti fireworks anyway, and they are terrible for animals and wildlife.

Yanbu - ban them for public sale
Yabu - don’t ruin it for everyone just because a few can’t be responsible

“But if you try…you might get what you need!”

They’ll be banned eventually. Hopefully it won’t take another firework causing the deaths of 6 people in a house fire in Hounslow, but it will happen.

Not at all. The farms in my area are quite out of the way. As for cats and dogs
Well you knew bonfire night was a thing before you bought your pet so maybe you should have taken that into consideration before buying one. Norms don't change just because you want them to.

Yes, I think they should be. If you think about it, particularly in urban areas there are not many places that are suitable for them so most people are either doing it illegally in parks and other public spaces or posing danger and creating nuisance by using them in small gardens etc.

If land owners were at all worried about farm animals then they wouldnt be shooting pheasants every Sunday for hours on end.

Yes. Or we should mandate a switch to silent fireworks

Where do you live where there is not a single horse or wild animal?

Animal handlers/farmers can manage public displays; they are publicised and run for 1 or 2 days. The same cannot be done to mitigate your twattish neighbours setting them off for 30 days straight. Wildlife would still be affected, but 1 or 2 days is better than a solid month or more of torment.

I think if that were to happen we might as well just not bother. It's like saying we should go out for a nice curry but we've removed the flavour in case it offends anyone.

Yes, a big problem with the arguments for firework bans is the double standards. Another reason why trying to encourage cultural change would be better.

As other posters have said the problem is, yet again, behavioural, combined with the fact that the fireworks that can be bought are getting innapropriate for sale to to the public.

So whereas fireworks that we used to let off in our garden when I was growing up would only be let off on the fifth, and the most exiting thing (and it was exiting) was a rocket or two, last night here we had some lunatics letting stuff off with so much noise and power that the Army would be jealous. The windows were being rattled and pounded for two hours. And there's a week to go before bonfire night.

Why is this stuff permitted to be sold to the public? And as I understand it there are laws that should stop any fireworks being used outside of very few days in the year. Of course, these laws aren't enforced (and how could they be) any more than most of the other laws that now seem to be considered optional. No-one seems to care and there's no-one to enforce them anyway. Meanwhile the lives of "normal" people just gets more and more miserable.

YES - there is no place in modern society for the sale of explosives to the general public. Only licensed premise should be able to have firework displays.

I don't know if it would make any difference. They're banned in Ireland, but that doesn't stop them.

Live city centre outskirts and am sick of hearing them already. Been going off for a fortnight. Dickheads.

But it's not the light that pisses people off or spooks animals, it's the sound. So just mute the noise and enjoy the beautiful light display. Nobody would object to anyone using those sorts of fireworks in even the most enclosed domestic setting.

I cannot believe that in this day and age legal explosives are being sold to the general public.

We have a bigger population, more squashed in than ever, and anti social behaviour is off the scale. Times change and I do think we have moved on from scary bangs going off and they should absolutely be banned.

I’d be ok with environmentally friendly silent ones. Even those aren’t exactly good for wildlife. But neither are artificial lights in general, or motorways.

Yes. People where I live let loud fireworks at midnight and later on random weeknights - and not just one firework, it can go on for some minutes.

It's definitely not to do with any festival. I live in a multicultural area where various festivals are celebrated and everyone knows when there is a celebration - I'm fine with fireworks for New Year, Diwali, Bonfire Night, Eid, etc. but these are random and happen more or less every week.

I’d happily see them banned. Aside from the damage they can do are they really that entertaining?

I didn’t know that the fireworks sold these days were more powerful.

The problem with the general public getting hold of them is that so many people are brainless. They won’t even be reading the instructions and are probably setting them off in small gardens.

I was all for people having fun but what I saw this weekend was shocking, the trouble is if you call the police by the time the police arrive they have run off.

YADNBU

I wouldn't care about silent ones, though. It's loud KABOOM KABOOM KABOOm that gets on my nerves. We get them for Chinese NYr, Ramadam, not just bonfire week.

YES!!!

It’s one thing that I can never understand why they’re not restricted yet.

I think people will look back and be shocked that people could just go into a shop buy something so dangerous, purely for entertainment.

Yes, no home fireworks, just organised ones by the council.

💯 it's odd they are talking about banning loud speakers on public transport but yet selling explosive fireworks to anyone is fine.

This isn't going to do anything, because people like the noise. Silent fireworks wouldn't fill the cultural attachment in the same way. Which leaves all the same issues with black market creation.

I don't think this is a good argument against restricting the sale of fireworks. Lots of things are available on the black market. Should we legalise heroin and handguns because we can buy them on the black market? Or tax-free fags?

Really? Every barn, shack and little shop round Newry sell them it seems. My Irish neighbours all seemed to be settling them off yesterday.
Fireworks are have been banned in Ireland outside of commercial displays since the 80s. But there are more and more going off every year.