Land of the free, home of the brave
- Thread starter AMonger
- Start date
Driving through Massachusetts to make my delivery, I couldn't help notice how all the Amber Alert signs were ablaze with warnings that, in Massachusetts, the Cradle of Liberty, the Birthplace of Independence, fireworks are illegal and will get you a fine of $1000 or imprisonment of up to one year, or both if you possess, or ignite, or explode them. I do love a good irony.
42 states allow some or all of the consumer fireworks (DOT 1.4G) to be used. Four states (IL, IA, OH and VT) only allow wood or wire sparklers and uber lame novelties, and 4 states (NJ, NY, DE and MA) don't even allow sparklers.
Apparently, the leaders in the Cradle of Liberty, the Birthplace of Independence, feel that citizens of the state with the highest per capita of college graduates in the nation, from schools like Harvard University, Brandeis University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and grade schoolers who test the highest of any state in the nation, just don't quite have the smarts to qualify them to wave 8-inch sticks that emit sparks.
But ball bearing filled pressure cookers they're OK with.
I do love a good irony.
42 states allow some or all of the consumer fireworks (DOT 1.4G) to be used. Four states (IL, IA, OH and VT) only allow wood or wire sparklers and uber lame novelties, and 4 states (NJ, NY, DE and MA) don't even allow sparklers.
Apparently, the leaders in the Cradle of Liberty, the Birthplace of Independence, feel that citizens of the state with the highest per capita of college graduates in the nation, from schools like Harvard University, Brandeis University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and grade schoolers who test the highest of any state in the nation, just don't quite have the smarts to qualify them to wave 8-inch sticks that emit sparks.
But ball bearing filled pressure cookers they're OK with.
I do love a good irony.
I see that you are irony impaired.
OK, but the "full share" of "not those people" doesn't really explain why 46 of the 50 states allow at least sparklers. It's highly unlikely that Massachusetts has more than it's full share of "not those people" than all of those other 46 states. More likely, the powers that be in Massachusetts like legislating and exerting control over the people. The five states with the most restrictive laws with regard to personal liberty, and thus the fewest freedoms for its citizens, are NY, NJ, MA, CT, and DE. The only question is why CT hasn't gotten on board with the fireworks bans.
Massachusetts was the first state legislature to recognize the 4th of July as a state celebration, and suggested bonfires on the night before followed by a day-long celebration including parades, picnics, concerts, fairs, and culminating with fireworks at dusk on the 4th. You don't see the irony in that? Especially when the Revolutionary War started in Massachusetts, where the Boston Tea Party began the fight for Liberty and Independence that defined and literally invented America? I do.
letzrockexpress
Veteran Expediter
That is a good irony but I suspect the motivation behind outlawing fireworks in Mass. is the perception those snobby, hoytie toytie Ivy League snits have toward those who they believe would possess fireworks. You know, the under belly of society, the "B" school grads ( and lower) who would actually stoop to a level where they would hold these dangerous appliances in their underpriviledged hands. It's just uncivilized...
In the 30s many states outlawed fireworks, and by the 40s nearly all of them did. Massachusetts was the last state to ban fireworks at that time, due to the strong tradition and historical significance of fireworks ("the rockets red glare" was inspired by a rocket made by a Massachusetts general that flew 4 miles and burst with a red glare to inspire the troops). The reason fireworks were made illegal in the 30s and 40s was because fireworks weren't very well regulated and they weren't generally safe. The difference in the amount of powder, or the type of fuse, varied a great deal from item to item. In the 50s and currently, the fireworks industry and the Consumer Product Safety Commission has instituted better regulations resulting in more consistent and safer fireworks.
When the Massachusetts law banning fireworks went into effect, they were overwhelmingly a conservative, Republican state. Massachusetts didn't turn to the Dark Side until the watershed 1952 election of JFK over incumbent Henry Cabot Lodge (largely due to Lodge heavily supporting Eisenhower for the Republican nomination for President over that of Taft, who was the preference of the ultra-conservative faction of the party, and the Taft supporters turned on Eisenhower and Lodge.)
The Massachusetts fireworks law has far less to do with liberal political leanings than it does with the history of Massachusetts leaders restricting Liberty and telling its citizens what to do and how to live, which has a very rich and lengthy history of untraconservatism that can be traced directly to Plymouth Rock, the First Great Awakening and the Salem Witch Trials, none of which were even remotely liberal.
When the Massachusetts law banning fireworks went into effect, they were overwhelmingly a conservative, Republican state. Massachusetts didn't turn to the Dark Side until the watershed 1952 election of JFK over incumbent Henry Cabot Lodge (largely due to Lodge heavily supporting Eisenhower for the Republican nomination for President over that of Taft, who was the preference of the ultra-conservative faction of the party, and the Taft supporters turned on Eisenhower and Lodge.)
The Massachusetts fireworks law has far less to do with liberal political leanings than it does with the history of Massachusetts leaders restricting Liberty and telling its citizens what to do and how to live, which has a very rich and lengthy history of untraconservatism that can be traced directly to Plymouth Rock, the First Great Awakening and the Salem Witch Trials, none of which were even remotely liberal.
so much for blaming the Liberals....LOL