Should fireworks be banned from public sale.

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#1168042 3-Nov-2014 22:11

Elpie: I HATE fireworks sales. In this area, every year, people fire the things off for months, at all hours of the night. This means the rest of us do not have quiet enjoyment of our own homes. This year I don't have a pet but the effects on my dogs in the past few years were enough to make anyone cry.
So, have your fun if you like but for some of us firework sale season is sheer hell. A ban on private sales can't come fast enough for me.

I agree with all of that and we do have a pet. She freaks out everytime. If it was one, two or three times a year we could cope and sedate the dog. Random idiots at random times of any day and/or night, rockets landing on our roof? Sorry, ban time.

tardtasticx

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#1168079 3-Nov-2014 23:08

Elpie: Ban them and allow public displays only and, perhaps, special licenses for one-off private events. Even when I was a kid they were dangerous. At a private bonfire on a farm, I got the scar on my back from a kid dropping a firework down my top. It only takes a minute for kids to do something stupid. A friend lost his eye that same year. This was well supervised with plenty of adults around. The boys were fastter than the adults. I was teaching my kid how to handle sparklers safely when the phosphorus fell off a sparkler onto my hand. Thank heavens she wasn't holding it. Phosphorus burns are excruciating. Trip to the hospital later and I have lovely scars left on my hand. Nobody keeps records of how many people get badly burned by sparklers so we keep on giving them to little kids.

Last year, neighbours let off fireworks that set my house roof on fire. The fire brigade responded very quickly but I can tell you that I am terrified tonight because fireworks are going off on every property around my house.

I HATE fireworks sales. In this area, every year, people fire the things off for months, at all hours of the night. This means the rest of us do not have quiet enjoyment of our own homes. This year I don't have a pet but the effects on my dogs in the past few years were enough to make anyone cry.
So, have your fun if you like but for some of us firework sale season is sheer hell. A ban on private sales can't come fast enough for me.

Yes yes yes and yes.

I remember how bad I was when i was about 15 sneaking around with mates playing with fireworks. I was a di**. Now I realise how bloody annoying it is trying to work on an assignment at night, trying to get sleep for the next busy day, its not fun being woken up constantly by those things.

Our cat is getting old now, he gets anxious and freaks out when the kids over the road scream, and I feel terrible locking him in a room when the fireworks are on because he cries all night but we don't want him to run off.

Fireworks literally have no reason to exist and to be honest I think people would soon forget about it if they were banned completely. But public displays would be fine so long as they're in a non-residential area.

networkn

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#1168086 3-Nov-2014 23:21

tardtasticx:
Elpie: Ban them and allow public displays only and, perhaps, special licenses for one-off private events. Even when I was a kid they were dangerous. At a private bonfire on a farm, I got the scar on my back from a kid dropping a firework down my top. It only takes a minute for kids to do something stupid. A friend lost his eye that same year. This was well supervised with plenty of adults around. The boys were fastter than the adults. I was teaching my kid how to handle sparklers safely when the phosphorus fell off a sparkler onto my hand. Thank heavens she wasn't holding it. Phosphorus burns are excruciating. Trip to the hospital later and I have lovely scars left on my hand. Nobody keeps records of how many people get badly burned by sparklers so we keep on giving them to little kids.

Last year, neighbours let off fireworks that set my house roof on fire. The fire brigade responded very quickly but I can tell you that I am terrified tonight because fireworks are going off on every property around my house.

I HATE fireworks sales. In this area, every year, people fire the things off for months, at all hours of the night. This means the rest of us do not have quiet enjoyment of our own homes. This year I don't have a pet but the effects on my dogs in the past few years were enough to make anyone cry.
So, have your fun if you like but for some of us firework sale season is sheer hell. A ban on private sales can't come fast enough for me.

Yes yes yes and yes.

I remember how bad I was when i was about 15 sneaking around with mates playing with fireworks. I was a di**. Now I realise how bloody annoying it is trying to work on an assignment at night, trying to get sleep for the next busy day, its not fun being woken up constantly by those things.

Our cat is getting old now, he gets anxious and freaks out when the kids over the road scream, and I feel terrible locking him in a room when the fireworks are on because he cries all night but we don't want him to run off.

Fireworks literally have no reason to exist and to be honest I think people would soon forget about it if they were banned completely. But public displays would be fine so long as they're in a non-residential area.

Perhaps we should ban all uni parties as well? The number of times I have been kept awake by my neighbours especially around festive seasons making a royal din till 2-6am is huge.

People need to get a grip, if it's not fireworks people will find other ways of being annoying or putting others in danger.

I have pets and young kids and I am still not that stressed about it (and neither are they).

tardtasticx

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#1168088 3-Nov-2014 23:25

networkn:
tardtasticx:
Elpie: Ban them and allow public displays only and, perhaps, special licenses for one-off private events. Even when I was a kid they were dangerous. At a private bonfire on a farm, I got the scar on my back from a kid dropping a firework down my top. It only takes a minute for kids to do something stupid. A friend lost his eye that same year. This was well supervised with plenty of adults around. The boys were fastter than the adults. I was teaching my kid how to handle sparklers safely when the phosphorus fell off a sparkler onto my hand. Thank heavens she wasn't holding it. Phosphorus burns are excruciating. Trip to the hospital later and I have lovely scars left on my hand. Nobody keeps records of how many people get badly burned by sparklers so we keep on giving them to little kids.

Last year, neighbours let off fireworks that set my house roof on fire. The fire brigade responded very quickly but I can tell you that I am terrified tonight because fireworks are going off on every property around my house.

I HATE fireworks sales. In this area, every year, people fire the things off for months, at all hours of the night. This means the rest of us do not have quiet enjoyment of our own homes. This year I don't have a pet but the effects on my dogs in the past few years were enough to make anyone cry.
So, have your fun if you like but for some of us firework sale season is sheer hell. A ban on private sales can't come fast enough for me.

Yes yes yes and yes.

I remember how bad I was when i was about 15 sneaking around with mates playing with fireworks. I was a di**. Now I realise how bloody annoying it is trying to work on an assignment at night, trying to get sleep for the next busy day, its not fun being woken up constantly by those things.

Our cat is getting old now, he gets anxious and freaks out when the kids over the road scream, and I feel terrible locking him in a room when the fireworks are on because he cries all night but we don't want him to run off.

Fireworks literally have no reason to exist and to be honest I think people would soon forget about it if they were banned completely. But public displays would be fine so long as they're in a non-residential area.

Perhaps we should ban all uni parties as well? The number of times I have been kept awake by my neighbours especially around festive seasons making a royal din till 2-6am is huge.

People need to get a grip, if it's not fireworks people will find other ways of being annoying or putting others in danger.

I have pets and young kids and I am still not that stressed about it (and neither are they).

Police will break up any party that gets rowdy enough but theyre not just specifically uni parties.
And of course people will find another way to replace them but getting rid of them from public sale is atleast helping prevent a few people losing fingers or having their house burnt down.

meesham

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#1168094 3-Nov-2014 23:32

11:30pm on a weeknight and I've currently got idiots setting them off at the local park, luckily it hasn't woken up my 8 month old daughter (yet). Growing up in a country where fireworks are banned I guess I don't have the nostalgic attachment to them but I don't think they should be available to the general public, or as mentioned previously banned in urban environments.

JimmyH

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#1168098 4-Nov-2014 00:05

jeffnz:

muppets is subjective, ban the fireworks it serves no purpose other than annoying a lot of people and causing untold damage.

Have public displays by all means but there is no way that you can control the idiots other than banning them.

I dispute that. The major purpose of fireworks is that, for a great many people, they are fun. Relatively cheap, enjoyable, fun that families can do together. And significantly more fun that the "oooh pretty" you get at public displays. When you are old enough to do so safely the major fun element isn't standing at a regulation safe distance and watching someone else let them off, it's letting them off yourself.

I have a great many fond memories of Guy Fawkes parties with the neighbours, and letting them off under the close supervision of dad. We let off a bunch at a friends place last Guy Fawkes last year. The younger kids enjoyed watching them. The older kids *really* enjoyed being allowed to light them. It was all well supervised, pretty safe, and IMO actually taught those kids quite a bit about how to behave responsibly and safely in situations where there are potential hazards. For the adults, it brought back quite a few nostalgic memories of our own childhoods.

Mind you, we did miss some of the old faves that you can no longer get - catherine wheels etc.

Family fun and entertainment is, in my opinion, actually a pretty worthwhile purpose. It isn't nothing.

(I'm not, however, opposed to restricting when you can let them off to a couple of nights a year, say Guy Fawkes plus two nights to allow for the possibility of rain. Nor would I have a particular problem raising the purchase age to, say, 20).

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mattwnz

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#1168110 4-Nov-2014 00:44

JimmyC:
Elpie: I HATE fireworks sales. In this area, every year, people fire the things off for months, at all hours of the night. This means the rest of us do not have quiet enjoyment of our own homes. This year I don't have a pet but the effects on my dogs in the past few years were enough to make anyone cry.
So, have your fun if you like but for some of us firework sale season is sheer hell. A ban on private sales can't come fast enough for me.

I agree with all of that and we do have a pet. She freaks out everytime. If it was one, two or three times a year we could cope and sedate the dog. Random idiots at random times of any day and/or night, rockets landing on our roof? Sorry, ban time.

Yeap ban them. It wouldn't be so bad if it was restricted to a couple of nights, but they are used all year round as people save them up. The fact that anyone can buy them, and you don't need any certification or handling course to handle the explosive just shows why so many people are hurt and fires are started every year. Would love to know the true cost of the damage they cause. Wouldn't be so bad if there was a levy on them to cover it, but there isn't, so the retailers do very nicely from it all. I suspect there is some pretty heavy lobbying that goes on to keep them. It is just a matter of time before they are gone. Also we have public displays these days which are far better.
The ones that make the loud bangs are the ones that really annoy me as they didn't used to sell those. They probably breach council noise limits anyway, not that they are policed.

mattwnz

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#1168111 4-Nov-2014 00:51

JimmyH:
jeffnz:

muppets is subjective, ban the fireworks it serves no purpose other than annoying a lot of people and causing untold damage.

Have public displays by all means but there is no way that you can control the idiots other than banning them.

I dispute that. The major purpose of fireworks is that, for a great many people, they are fun. Relatively cheap, enjoyable, fun that families can do together. And significantly more fun that the "oooh pretty" you get at public displays. When you are old enough to do so safely the major fun element isn't standing at a regulation safe distance and watching someone else let them off, it's letting them off yourself.

I have a great many fond memories of Guy Fawkes parties with the neighbours, and letting them off under the close supervision of dad. We let off a bunch at a friends place last Guy Fawkes last year. The younger kids enjoyed watching them. The older kids *really* enjoyed being allowed to light them. It was all well supervised, pretty safe, and IMO actually taught those kids quite a bit about how to behave responsibly and safely in situations where there are potential hazards. For the adults, it brought back quite a few nostalgic memories of our own childhoods.

Those were the days of a big public bonfire, and you used to take all he firework down to the park to let off with everyone else. But those days are long gone. Certainly it is not cheap anymore, and I think that for the money you can get better bang for you buck on many other activities. When I was a kid, my main diappointment with fireworks was that they only lasted 10 minutes and they were all gone. Generally the quality of them was poor, and you only got a few seconds out of them. Sparklers you often burnt your fingers on the metal. With public displays, they usually use commercial grade ones, which are far better, and last longer.

mattwnz

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#1168113 4-Nov-2014 00:53

networkn:
tardtasticx:
Elpie: Ban them and allow public displays only and, perhaps, special licenses for one-off private events. Even when I was a kid they were dangerous. At a private bonfire on a farm, I got the scar on my back from a kid dropping a firework down my top. It only takes a minute for kids to do something stupid. A friend lost his eye that same year. This was well supervised with plenty of adults around. The boys were fastter than the adults. I was teaching my kid how to handle sparklers safely when the phosphorus fell off a sparkler onto my hand. Thank heavens she wasn't holding it. Phosphorus burns are excruciating. Trip to the hospital later and I have lovely scars left on my hand. Nobody keeps records of how many people get badly burned by sparklers so we keep on giving them to little kids.

Last year, neighbours let off fireworks that set my house roof on fire. The fire brigade responded very quickly but I can tell you that I am terrified tonight because fireworks are going off on every property around my house.

I HATE fireworks sales. In this area, every year, people fire the things off for months, at all hours of the night. This means the rest of us do not have quiet enjoyment of our own homes. This year I don't have a pet but the effects on my dogs in the past few years were enough to make anyone cry.
So, have your fun if you like but for some of us firework sale season is sheer hell. A ban on private sales can't come fast enough for me.

Yes yes yes and yes.

I remember how bad I was when i was about 15 sneaking around with mates playing with fireworks. I was a di**. Now I realise how bloody annoying it is trying to work on an assignment at night, trying to get sleep for the next busy day, its not fun being woken up constantly by those things.

Our cat is getting old now, he gets anxious and freaks out when the kids over the road scream, and I feel terrible locking him in a room when the fireworks are on because he cries all night but we don't want him to run off.

Fireworks literally have no reason to exist and to be honest I think people would soon forget about it if they were banned completely. But public displays would be fine so long as they're in a non-residential area.

Perhaps we should ban all uni parties as well? The number of times I have been kept awake by my neighbours especially around festive seasons making a royal din till 2-6am is huge.

People need to get a grip, if it's not fireworks people will find other ways of being annoying or putting others in danger.

I have pets and young kids and I am still not that stressed about it (and neither are they).

That noise though is controlled by your district plan, so you do have the right to enjoy peace and quiet. So if there is loud noise being caused by parties, you can call the council. It is about people having respect for others, and generally there is a lack of it out there.

Elpie

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#1168114 4-Nov-2014 01:00

mattwnz: The fact that anyone can buy them, and you don't need any certification or handling course to handle the explosive just shows why so many people are hurt and fires are started every year.

Ironically, people have to jump through hoops and have a license if they want to buy gunpowder. Yet, any bozo can buy gunpowder wrapped up with bangy things. If John Key has credible evidence that there is a terrorism threat inside our borders then those terrorists must be laughing at the ease with which they can stock up on gunpowder with nobody being any the wiser.

charsleysa

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#1168119 4-Nov-2014 01:57

Elpie:
mattwnz: The fact that anyone can buy them, and you don't need any certification or handling course to handle the explosive just shows why so many people are hurt and fires are started every year.

Ironically, people have to jump through hoops and have a license if they want to buy gunpowder. Yet, any bozo can buy gunpowder wrapped up with bangy things. If John Key has credible evidence that there is a terrorism threat inside our borders then those terrorists must be laughing at the ease with which they can stock up on gunpowder with nobody being any the wiser.

Except it's not just gunpowder, it's a mixture of chemicals with a bit of gunpowder included.

The fireworks sold in New Zealand are quite safe compared to what you get in other countries.

I've been to countries where you are basically sold a bomb, it's literally pure gunpowder tightly wrapped in newspaper.

While I wouldn't mind a ban on fireworks for the general public outside of guy fawkes week, a complete ban is unjustified.

Impose tougher punishments on those that are use fireworks in an unsafe manner just like how people are fined or even imprisoned when they use a car in an unsafe manner.

Regards
Stefan Andres Charsley

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turnin

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#1168120 4-Nov-2014 02:10

Please stop banning everything.
It's almost impossible to keep up with legislature in nz now.

bfginger

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#1168130 4-Nov-2014 06:12

Cars and dogs cause far, far more harm to animals and people than fireworks and nobody is suggesting banning them. There is no need for fireworks to make the loud sonic booms, that is a design feature that can be regulated away like the sky rockets were.

dickytim

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#1168131 4-Nov-2014 06:31

BAN then, New Zealanders are idiots for the most part, and cant be trusted with fireworks.

I currently have 4 extra horses at home as their owners live too close to town and the hours upon hours of fireworks going off in inappropriate places causes a lot of damage and stress to horses and other animals.

Why are we celebrating an attempted criminal act anyway? I had never heard of Guy Fawkes before I move to NZ.

Also I love fireworks, in a controlled environment operated by professionals. The crap we get here is just... crap anyway.

Handle9

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#1168140 4-Nov-2014 07:38

Either ban them, or treat them like tobacco and alcohol and heavily tax them to cover the cost to tax payers of the idiots. I just can't see the point anymore to be honest.

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