It is that time of year, when law enforcement officials work to keep illegal fireworks from making their way from South Carolina into North Carolina.
Brunswick County borders South Carolina and fire marshal Scott Garner says because of the proximity, lots of illegal fireworks make their way over.
Sparklers and fountains are legal in North Carolina -- those are non-explosive or non-spinning fireworks.
But, in South Carolina you can pretty much buy anything -- even those that resemble professional displays.
The Brunswick County Sheriff's Office says it won't be policing the borders but if you get caught transporting illegal fireworks, you can face serious penalties.
"North Carolina is a zero tolerance policy when it comes to illegal fireworks. First off you're fireworks can be confiscated and you could face civil and criminal penalties," said Garner.
Garner says its important to wear gloves while shooting off approved fireworks, and have water handy -- especially since the county is still under the burn ban, and the area is dry.
If you have questions about the legality of your fireworks, garner says its best to contact your local fire marshal.
Since almost everyone of
Since almost everyone of these replies today seem to be ignorant of the laws when it comes to public fireworks displays then maybe they should call the local fire departments BEFORE they shoot off their mouths.
While most are not aware of the laws, the public display of fireworks that you see on the 4th take a great deal of planning and approval before they can be set off. Permits are issued by the local fire marshal in accordance with the Office of State Fire Marshal and the Federal government.
Call Scott Garner, Frank Blackely or Donnie Hall and ask what it takes to shoot the fireworks for a public display. It involves a great deal of planning, training, and preparation just to set up a show for the general public. Call them and ask, the Fire Prevention Code is a public law and available for all to see.
The use of the illegal fireworks upsets a great number of fire officials since they generally have to respond to an injury or death as the result of the illegal fireworks being shot off or they have to respond to a house fire that was set off from the use of these fireworks.
Take a second and think about what you are doing this Fourth of July and leave the shooting of fireworks to the professionals. Spend your money on other things that can mean a lot more this Fourth of July!
Fireworks
Maybe fireworks of any type should be illegal.99% of it is more junk we import from China.
Yeah they might want to up
Yeah they might want to up the patrol at the North End cause the police could catch plenty of people with fireworks. I guess they need an easy way to reach their quota for the month. Never mind the all the DUI's they could issue and keep people safe.
Thank goodness!
Thank goodness there is no more crime to be fought in North Carolina! Now we can focus on all of the firework felons shooting those bottle rockets off that almost completely destroyed our entire state last year. And (gasp) all of those spinning wheels that sparkle as the fly up, up and up to a herculean ten feet and blaze back to the earth with a tremendous thud wreaking so much havock... Go get those bad nasty fireworks Mr. Deputy.. Go and get them. Since our beloved law enforcement has rooted out all evil and abolished all crime, it is such a well spent use of time and energy to go and bust those nasty firework hoodlums that roam our streets every night, forcing us to stay inside and lock our doors. I can finally sleep well at night...
fireworks/no more nasties
Before you go blaming the deputies for answering firework calls, you need to understand that they aren't the ones out patroling to see who is using fireworks. They respond to these calls only after a neighbor has called 911 to complain about them being fired off in their neighborhood. They do have much more important issues at hand to deal with, they don't enjoy these calls anymore than you do. When a person calls to complain, they have to respond to the call, so don't blame them. If you want to get angry at anyone, get angry at the neighbor who called them out there.
Fireworks can be shot off
Fireworks can be shot off that are explosive at the 2008 N.C. 4TH OF JULY FESTIVAL and other places. Is that not breaking the NC firework laws also?
i got one question? if they
i got one question? if they are illegal,then how does some cities in N.C shoot off fireworks the "LEGAL WAY". say for instance, SOUTHPORT and WILMINGTON. So if they can do it ,then why can't citizens do it . i think when SOUTHPORT and WILMINGTON shoot off fireworks ,the mayors,town councils,county commisoners,and any of the local governments that vote in favor of the fireworks display, should be fined out of their pocket and punished the way that public citizens would be.
I believe that the fireworks
I believe that the fireworks displays put on by cities/towns, etc are done by qualified pyrotechnic experts who know what they are doing.
Do you mean as opposed to....
...some knucklehead who will start a brush fire and burn down three of his neighbors' houses?
If these people have a compulsive desire to blow things up, I highly recommend that they visit the army or Marine recruiting office.
Otherwise, they should leave it to the professionals.
COME ON
"experts" the stuff I shoot off isn't any more dangerous than ANYTHING that is done PROPERLY. I'm guessing they would absolutely FLIP OUT at the canisters of BLACK POWDER I have stored for my muzzleloader....TOO DANGEROUS FOR ME TO HANDLE I GUESS.
This is just ANOTHER GREAT EXAMPLE of what happens when you let Government "protect" you...again..I'll be out shooting my fireworks off and celebrating my countries INDEPENDENCE...with government the way it is going...our troops aren't going to have many freedoms to fight for before long.
"Done properly" being the key...
Let me assure you that there is no shortage of incompetent idiots in this world. YOU may know exactly what you're doing, but how about the guy across the street?
When he starts a fire and your home burns down, I doubt you'll be celebrating his freedom to screw up royally.
Total freedom requires total responsibility. Unfortunately, there is no way to insure that only responsible people are buying fireworks. So the law is there to protect YOU from THEM. (I could care less about protecting them from themselves.)
SO...
I should be punished because of someone else's stupidity? Those are the types of laws that INFURIATE ME. So since the guy down the street has had 3 DUI's in a year, we should ban alcohol? Ban driving? Because you are a bad shot with your gun, ban guns? If we continue to ban based on your theory...NOTHING IS SAFE AND SHOULD BE BANNED IMMEDIATELY! If you don't' have enough COMMON SENSE to be careful at what you are doing...you should be culled out of the gene pool.....which is the way nature works.
Let's go over this again
Firearms serve a useful purpose. We have many dangerous objects in our life, from cars to firearms to knives, but we accept those risks because of the useful function provided by the item.
I repeat the question, what useful function is served by an M-80 or Roman Candle?
I will be the first to admit that prohibition doesn't work. That does not however, excuse the government from at least TRYING to prohibit those items that can directly impact your safety or wallet, and serve no useful purpose whatsoever. As long as you're depending upon the government to come extinguish your former residence, the government has a right to try and REASONABLY minimize the opportunities for it to burn.
Telling you than you can't buy explosive fireworks or those firing flaming projectiles is hardly a Draconian hardship.
In that light, when your idiot neighbor burns down your house, you will be punished far greater than your IMAGINARY punishment of being denied the ability to purchase fireworks....
....but I'm sure you'd rather lose your house or watch a few hundred acres of tinder-dry woods burn up just so that you can light a fuse on a pack of layfingers and watch them go rat-ta-tat-tat.
Thankfully working with C3 and C4 for several years got me over the childhood fascination...
LOL
"I repeat the question, what useful function is served by an M-80 or Roman Candle?"
How about pursuit of happiness...I remember reading that somewhere...just can't remember.
I have a BETTER chance of loosing my home to my neighbor tossing his cigarette down on the ground and it blowing over to the pinestraw next to my home. So...we should ban cigarettes too right? I mean, it sounds like they are a HUGE fire hazard that should be CLOSELY controlled and there are PLENTY OF MORONS that toss them out of their windows EVERY SECOND.
With your reasoning..guns SHOULD be outlawed, at least sport shooting..serves NO real purpose except to waste lead. Boating...BAN IT..serves NO purpose but to waste gas..IF YOU THINK THOSE SHOOTING OFF FIREWORKS ARE IDIOTS...I INVITE YOU TO VISIT WB this weekend...the morons ABOUND on holiday weekends...what you think "serves no real purpose" might serve a purpose to me. I shouldn't have to live under rules to protect the few morons that would NORMALLY be taken out of the gene pool by nature...wanna be stupid..GO AHEAD...
Again...the masses shouldn't be punished for the STUPIDTY of the few.
I think...YOU FAIL...try again.
A grown man...
...getting his jollies from setting of an M-80 or Roman Candle?
That about says it all....
BTW, throwing cigarettes out of a car's window is also illegal. I guess we're impinging on that idiot's happiness too?
Fireworks
I think Law Enforcement would be better catching criminals, drunk drivers and the like that bothering folks who wish to celebrate the 4th with good fireworks instead of the crappy ones North Carolina Allows, of course Law enforcement are just doing their job, so you can't blame them, it's the nimrods in Goverment---Happy 4th everyone
That's all well and good
That's all well and good until one of your illegal fireworks hits someone in the eye or starts a fire.
LOL
How about a stray bullet....someone playing with a knife, DRIVING YOUR CAR...using your drill, saw...etc, etc...ANYTHING can be dangerous and MORE dangerous than fireworks...I guess by your standards we should just all sit at home and not do anything because it's "dangerous". LOTS of things are dangerous...but when used PROPERLY using the BRAIN GOD GAVE YOU...the danger is negligible.
All of the items you listed
....have some worthwhile purpose. We put up with the risk of injury because of the useful function they serve.
What worthwhile purpose does an M-80 or Roman Candle serve?
What worthwhile purpose do
What worthwhile purpose do they serve? THEY INTERTAIN ME! (Caps intended) That is all the reason needed for their existence and use by private individuals.
Fireworks are no more dangerous, and most are a lot LESS dangerous, than many other things that are already used for entertainment by the general public: E.G. racing cars, racing motorcycles, racing boats, alcohol consumption, pornography, firearms***, recreational use of prescription drugs and / or controlled substances, organized religion, etc.
(As an example, if you read the statistics from the NFPA, OSHA, and DOT, more people were seriously injured and killed while participating as spectators to motorsports events in the last 10 years than were as first-hand participants in private fireworks displays.)
So much for PERCEIVED versus ACTUAL risk in our society, eh?
***(And don't give me any lip about firearms being "useful". 99% of firearms discharged in this country by private citizens is for entertainment purposes - hunting for trophies rather than meat, target practice, etc.)
Do me a favor
Go to Yahoo News and enter "fireworks fire" into the search window.
Here's a SMALL sampling from the weekend:
South Bend house burned down
Evansville truck fire
Denver house burned down
Kansas City house burned down
Irwindale grass fire
Here's one from closer to home - Chesapeake
"A brush fire which destroyed 500 acres of soybeans in Chesapeake was sparked by fireworks. The fire was in the 1200 block of Ballahack Road near the North Carolina border."
All of those peoperty owners paid a pretty high price so you could be INTERTAINED (sic).
Oh...I left out the brain surgeons
...who started a large brush fire on the South spoil island at the entrance to Nixon Channel after they decided to put on an impromptu fireworks show to rival downtown. Gosh, who could possibly have known that flaming rocket exhaust could ignite paper-dry brush?
Why should anyone mind if it got so big the Coast Guard had to respond and dispatch a boat with adequate fire-fighting equipment from about two hours away? After all, those people were just "pusuing their happiness."
It's their god-given right to burn up an island and blow thousands in taxpayer money, right?
Outlaw Developers
Out of control development has done more damage than any fireworks could ever do, but oh yeah, a profit was made and taxes were paid so it's ok.
99
"What worthwhile purpose do they serve? THEY INTERTAIN ME! (Caps intended)"
They do not ENTERTAIN me...(caps intended and spelled correctly). They are illegal because they have caused harm to people due to the fact that a large percentage of people are careless and stupid.
I
"North Carolina is a zero tolerance policy when it comes to illegal fireworks. First off you're fireworks can be confiscated and you could face civil and criminal penalties," said Garner.
IF THIS IS TRUE, I HAVE IT ON GOOD AUTHORITY THAT A HUGE CACHE OF ILLEGAL FIREWORKS WILL BE COMING OVER THE BORDER...I hear they will be set off downtown somewhere....thats just what I hear...since they are ILLEGAL...I expect the authorities to shut it down...
BAHHH STUPID law...I'll take my chances