people love their fireworks. it's almost anti-american to state the belief that regular folks shouldn't be allowed to buy them - even if there are decent reasons behind such beliefs. my issue with them is that they're messy, sometimes dangerous, and it's a lot of money that people are lighting on fire.

just wondering what others think about this, though - should access to fireworks be limited? should fireworks be laden with some sort of tax that might fund clean-up or safety measures? what about further restricting the window of days that people can set them off?

or do you think that things are already too restricted, and that we should be more free here to sell & blow fireworks off wherever & whenever we want?

as much as it bugs me to have to deal with the noise for nearly a full week before and after the 4th, i don't think i have any right to tell people what to do with their money or time. the law says they can do it, and that's where it stands. but when you consider possible figures for $$ spent just here in Gallatin on fireworks - $500K? whatever the number is, there's a lot of better things that could be done with that cash, as opposed to sticking a fuse into it and lighting it up. a middle ground would be best, in my opinion - where people match their fireworks expenditures with contributions towards charities or schools, etc.