Way to go New York State!

[MauEvig]

So I just found out that Fireworks are now legal in my home state. I'm happy for them, but it's a bit ironic. I move to Virginia and then they finally legalize them! (They also put in Taco bell locally as well up there. Well at least we got one in Covington now. )
Like Virginia they're limited to certain types of fireworks like the fountains and such. No rockets, roman candles or anything like that. They are also limited by County, and you have to be 18 to purchase them.
Doesn't sound too bad to me though. I think the sale of Fireworks will boost New York's economy. A lot of people were just sneaking over the border anyway and spending their money in other states.
The confusing part though was that it said the sparklers with the metal tips would be illegal...really? Just because they get hot? They're sparklers, they're supposed to be! Aren't they less likely to catch on fire than the wooden ones? Silly New York. Oh well. I played with those as a kid.
There were opponents to the new law of course, but it's mostly because of safety concerns and such. What ever happened to just using common sense?
Regardless, a round of applause and congratulations to New York for stepping up and finally legalizing Fireworks! ^______^

[Murfreesboro]

Good to hear your home folks will be able to celebrate in style. I, too, wonder about the rules, though. When I was growing up, we always thought sparklers and Roman candles were the safest fireworks. In fact, when I was a little girl, my mother used to let me hold Roman candles in my hand as they went off. I was an only child, born when she was 40. No way on God's earth would she have let me do that if she'd known it was dangerous. I got by unscathed and can still remember how that "whoosh" felt when the next color would go off. However, my own kids have never handled anything but sparklers.

[MauEvig]

You were an only child too Murf? This I didn't know. But I've had friends I've "adopted" as brothers and sisters.
My parents were pretty overprotective of me; especially my mother. I'm pretty sure it was my dad who let me light sparklers for the first time.
Never got to experience roman candles, but I've seen them in online videos and such. I really hope to one day.
A friend of mine had her only son at 38. Even though I never plan on having kids myself, she always tells me "If you ever do have them, don't wait until you're 38!" (Somehow that has a catchy rhythm to it. )
My parents were pretty young, they were in their early 20's when they had me. Most of my friends were the younger child in the family with parents much older than mine. My parents I don't think were very experienced, but I think they did the best they could.
I also have a few friends who are older than me. Very few who are exactly my own age, usually a couple years apart here and there. My dad wanted more kids; my mom was like "Nope! Never doing that again!" after having me. Guess which parent won out?
Regardless I am happy for my home state. I was surprised when my mom posted fireworks on facebook.
Some of the rules are just silly in my opinion. At 4th of July this year I went to a party; and I watched a really young child playing with a sparkler. He looked about 3-5 in age. There's no way my parents would have let me do that! If I had kids, I wouldn't let them play with sparklers until I was confident they were mature enough to handle one.

[Murfreesboro]

Oh, you do have to be careful even with sparklers. One year my second son got a nasty burn on his thigh when the kids were handling them (he let the burnt-out stick touch his skin before it had cooled off sufficiently). It healed and he has no scar from it now. But, yeah, they get seriously hot for the brief time they burn. I always make sure we have a pail of water to thrust the burnt-out sticks into.

Yeah, I was an only child. My father had been married before and had children from that marriage, but I never saw them much after he died when I was seven. My half-brother I have seen a handful of times over the years. I don't think I have seen my half-sister since our father's funeral in 1962. I was my mother's only child, and she raised me alone after my father died.

I stayed in school forever and didn't start my own family until I was 34. Then I had my second son when I was 38, and my daughter at 42. I have never regretted anything about it. Sometimes I wish I had had one more, just so my daughter might have had a sister, but she insists that she likes being the princess of the family!

[Kolchak]

I've burned my hand a time or two on sparklers as well. I really liked the multi-colored ones.

We even had wars with roman candles. Not very bright on our part, but I grew out of it after a certain age......39 I think.

[NeverMore]

Here are a couple that Kolchak can appreciate.

My buddy Rance was lighting off fireworks, roman candles and what-not, me and my other buddy were handing them to him. He's lighting them one after another. We saw a cop car pull up so we booked while the cop came up behind Rance. He's still crouching down, reaches behind him, and starts hitting the cop on the leg, "give me more, give me more!" We were hiding behind the bush rolling on the ground laughing so hard. The cop confiscated the fireworks and let Rance go. Probably took them home and fired them off.

Another time, my buddy Junior had just lit a string of jumping jacks (look like firecrackers but spin around in a ball of flame), he dropped them on the sidewalk just as a cop car turned the corner and came up the street. Junior stepped on the lit string to hide them, must have looked guilty. Cop pulls up... "what are you kids doing?" Junior... "nothing"... just as the jumping jacks started shooting out from under his feet. The cop burst out laughing and drove away.

[Kolchak]

Many moons ago, I was forced to discipline some cops who had confiscated some fireworks around the 4th of July, and about a week later shot most of them off on what they thought was private property that nobody knew about. They were wrong. The owner of the property hid and filmed them and took down their license plates number. He turned both over to the local law who in turned ran the plates and dummy and stupid got caught red handed. They were made examples of and truth be told, could have done jail time. As it was we suspended them for a month and they had to be retrained, in proper police procedure. Neither one lasted more than two more years. Last I heard, one was a long haul trucker and the other I don't know what happened to him.

[MauEvig]

You're right; anything that can spark flames can be dangerous. We're pretty careful with our fireworks though. I make sure it's not near a car and far enough away from the house where they won't catch on fire.
I'm sorry to hear about your son though Murf; I hope he's ok now.

[Murfreesboro]

Oh, yeah, that happened years ago, when he was maybe three or four. He's almost 22 now. I doubt he even remembers it!

[NeverMore]

Do those cops ever go to iHop Kolchak? Found the picture below on Bad Cop No Donut.