Indiana's Own Big Bang Theory

The following notes are my thoughts re: the various changes in the rules about fireworks use in Indiana.

The following link will take you to where you can find out more details.

Click Me!

Pros & Cons of new fireworks rules for Indiana...

Pros:

1. By restricting use of all fireworks to either your own property, property of another consenting adult, or designated public areas, it should--if properly enforced--do away with fireworks being tossed onto sidewalks, streets, and other areas where they can endanger/distract/frighten drivers, pedestrians, and pets.

2. By making ALL fireworks unavailable for purchase by people under the age of 18, chances are lessened for children to buy and use them without parental supervision.

Even "safe & sane" fireworks aren't "safe & sane" without the maturity to use them properly.

3. Time restrictions on their use will make it easier to use the muscle of the law against those who have, in the past, decided to have 2 a.m. firecracker parties while thumbing their noses at their sleeping neighbors.

Cons:

1. No provisions were made regarding how appropriate a particular kind of firework was in relation to the property description of the user.

Not even celebrating Independence Day is a good excuse for having something launched from your property travel to your neighbor's property--possibly, even causing a fire.

If a bottle-rocket or an aerial shell has a good chance of landing on somebody else's property upon its return from the wild blue yonder, that means that the shooter's property is, obviously, not a wide enough spread for the use of such a firework therein.

2. Although time restrictions were included, they were ridiculously-broad.

As the law stands now (the way I understand it, anyway) you can--just so long as you're either on your own property, on the property of another consenting adult, or in a designated shooter area--set off fireworks anytime between nine in the morning and eleven at night.

On Independence Day?

No! On ANY day of any month for as many days as you wish.

On Independence Day, in fact, you can shoot them off up until midnight.

But wait! There's more...

You can shoot them off from nine until midnight not just on Independence Day but on ANY holiday.

Just think how many holidays there are. I think that just about every day on the calendar has some sort of holiday going on.

Therefore, you can probably find a Contemplate Your Navel-Lint Day and use it as a legitimate excuse to treat your neighbors to an extra hour of bangs and booms.

Not only would such a situation be disturbing to human non-participants but it would be downright traumatic to pets.

3. This new law leaves very little room for local regulation/interpretation--it's one-size-fits-all whether or not one size actually DOES fit well.

My final conclusions re: the tweaking of this law:

1. Don't do anything that would do away with the pros while, at the same time, try to do away with the cons.

2. Put in provisions that would say that traveling fireworks must not end up on the property of a property owner/renter who didn't give permission to the shooter to use his/her property.

2. Allow for local regulations (e.g. where a town might choose to not allow people living very close to a hospital to shoot off noisemaking fireworks) instead of keeping the current one-size-fits-all arrangement.

3. Finally--while keeping it okay for property-appropriate fireworks to be set off any day of the year (although keeping in place the 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. provision might be a good idea for the simple reason that more people would be awake in case that a fire does start and spread), restrict the ones that pop, bang, boom, whistle, or scream to no longer than from nine in the morning until midnight on Independence Day and within thirty minutes on either side of the arrival of a new year.

Other times, let's respect that Constitutional right to the quiet enjoyment of our property.