Thoughts from the abyss

I live in the wonderful state of Pennsylvania where fireworks are illegal. About the only thing that is legal in this stupid state are snakes (you know those things you set on fire and they grow), and those little snapper things you throw on the ground. Bottle rockets, nope illegal. M-80’s, nope illegal. Roman candles, nope illegal. Everything you could have fun with is completely illegal.

I’m sitting outside this evening on my patio. There’s nice fireworks going boom and pretty colors to my left, directly in front of me, and to the right of me. Now, technically everything that I’m seeing and hearing is “illegal” to have in anyones possession. Why? I don’t know. I think it’s pointless. Obviously no one pays attention to the law of illegal fireworks. They buy them out of state, bring them in, and set them off like most every normal person does for July 4th. So, what’s the point of them being illegal to begin with. It doesn’t stop people from obtaining them. It doesn’t stop people from setting them off.

It should be like anything else. Require a mandatory minimum age to purchase and tax them. People are going to get their hands on them anyways, why not allow people of age to have some fun. At the same time, the state can generate a few bucks off taxes to spend friviously like it would normally do anyways. Alcohol isn’t illegal and it causes way more problems than fireworks would once day out of the year. Alcohol is a problem everyday of the year, but I don’t see them making it illegal. My state controls liqour and beer sales. Hmmm, I wonder why this is…because the state gets a huge cut of all the sales. Why not do the same with fireworks?!

They are illegal because apparently they say they are protecting us and kids. Whatever. Kids get their hands on just about anything. Cigarettes seem to land in kids’ hands all the time. Guess what, anything and everything will fall in someone elses hands no matter what you do to prevent it. It’s just a simple fact of life. Politicians and lawyers are the demise of so many things in life.