Bill to legallize firework sales in Florida

Article at NorthEscambia.com

Quote :

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, has filed a bill that would repeal a fireworks ban in the state because Floridians are already buying fireworks online or bringing fireworks back from other states.

“We’re pushing economic activity out of our state with a regulation that’s relatively meaningless because people get fireworks elsewhere and just bring them down and shoot them off here,” Gaetz told the Panama City News Herald. “We’d rather keep those dollars in Florida.”

State law limits sales to relatively innocuous devices such as sparklers, while banning sales of such things as bottle rockets. But a loophole also has allowed the sale of fireworks to people who sign a statement saying they have an exemption to the law.

Gaetz said the idea for the bill came from a Marianna High School student, who said it was silly for people to cross state lines to buy fireworks and then bring them back to Florida.

Pictured: A Flomaton, Ala., fireworks stand, just north of the Florida/Alabama state line. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.

But, opponents will say more injuries will occur. (Insert namby-pamby whining sound here.)

I say we have too many damn laws on the books and the prohibition ought to go.

Legalize the sale and use but hold the ones using them directly responsible for any damages due to their use.. If your child burns down my house, YOU or your child should pay to have everything rebuilt the way it was, including the furnishings..

Eric wrote:

But, opponents will say more injuries will occur.  (Insert namby-pamby whining sound here.)

I say we have too many damn laws on the books and the prohibition ought to go.  

There just seems that there are real...larger issues that should be of concern to elected officials.....

Jake92 wrote:

Legalize the sale and use but hold the ones using them directly responsible for any damages due to their use..  If your child burns down my house, YOU or your child should pay to have everything rebuilt the way it was, including the furnishings..

If my minor children burn your house down, we are liable for damages, fireworks laws notwithstanding.

Except for the "selling" part the "use" part of the current law is virtually unenforceable anyway. As a kid in Texas I used to buy 1/4 sticks and big black cats from a stand right down the street from my house. Got my finger popped a few times by short fuses (luckily smaller fire crackers) but I learned real quick to respect them for what they are - explosives.