Legislators cite ‘honesty’ as reason to amend fireworks law

Legislators cite ‘honesty’ as reason to amend fireworks law

Let’s clarify one thing about people who buy fireworks in Ohio with the intention of setting those fireworks off in their own yards.

No one is making liars out of them, as state Rep. Robert F. Hagan of Youngstown alleged the other day. They are making a choice to violate a law that was passed by the Ohio General Assembly.

Maybe it is a bad law. Maybe because it forbids the in-state use of fireworks being sold here. Or maybe it’s a bad law because it allows the sale of fireworks at all.

The law is a creation of its times, when the sale of all but novelty items such as sparklers and snakes were illegal in the state. Legislators who wanted to change that law didn’t have the political muscle to get full legalization of consumer fireworks through the General Assembly and past the governor’s desk, So they settled for a compromise. The Legislature was being as dishonest in its approach as tens of thousands of fireworks buyers have been every year since. It could be argued that in passing its compromise, the Legislature was suborning the perjury of all those buyers who signed forms saying they were going to take their purchases out of state.

For legislators to now feign shock — shock! — that some Ohioans are lying to buy fireworks for their personal use is hypocrisy of the first rank.

The art of compromise

The state’s legislators — some of whom were very chummy with people who wanted to sell fireworks — settled for what they could get. They gambled that patience would pay off — that years later Ohioans would become so used to neighborhood fireworks displays that they could amend the law. Or maybe they could argue that law had to be changed because it was making “liars out of all of us,” as Hagan, D-60th, told a reporter. Rep. Thomas Letson of Warren, D-64th, used a similar phrase, saying he’s averse to “making our citizens liars.”

Certainly a lot of people buy fireworks and a lot of people enjoy setting them off, even if the latter is illegal. But here’s a reality check for Rep. Hagan: all Ohioans are not doing it. In most neighborhoods, a minority of residents are lighting up. For every neighborhood that has a lot of illegal fireworks being set off, there’s one where few or none are being ignited.

For every neighbor who loves putting a match to a roman candle, there’s one bothered by the noise, worried about his house being set afire or concerned that the neighbor’s kid is going to get hurt. And for every firecracker that goes bang to the delight of its igniter, there’s a nearby dog that runs under the bed and cowers for 10 minutes.

By the numbers

Those legislators who imply that there is a clear need to legalize fireworks might want to rerun the constituent numbers (as opposed to the campaign contributor numbers). There may be more voters who are content to watch their fireworks being set off downtown or at the fairgrounds or at the community park and then go home to a relatively quiet night than there are voters who are intent on igniting their own pyrotechnics. There may be as many people worried about how many more next-door detonations there would be if fireworks were fully legalized than there are people bothered by having to sign a disclaimer.

They might want to look at the injury rates between states where fireworks are legal and those where they are not (in 2006 hospitals treated about 9,000 people injured by fireworks or novelty items, according to the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission). Or ask fire chiefs if they would be concerned about an increase in house fires under legalization. (In 2006, three people died as the result of injuries from fireworks set off by them or by neighbors; four people died as the result of house fires sparked by fireworks.)

Of course, the fireworks industry doesn’t need the Legislature to change the law. If they are convinced that most Ohioans want to legalize both the purchase and use of fireworks, the companies could put a referendum on the state ballot. That they haven’t done so would make a cynic suspect that they have a pretty good idea of how the vote would turn out.