The explosive issue of Maine (USA) 's firework laws came up for debate on May 1 in Augusta. During a public hearing, members of the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee heard arguments for and against lifting the state ban on the sale of consumer fireworks.
When July 4th comes round, Republican Sen. Walter Gooley of Farmington wants Mainers to be able to celebrate with more than just sparklers. Maine is currently one of a handful of states that only allows sparklers and certain other novelty incendiaries to be sold.
A bill proposed by Gooley would permit the sale of consumer fireworks - something which he says would generate a significant amount of revenue for state coffers. "While the sale and usage of fireworks other than sparklers in Maine is currently illegal, by permitting them the state can receive the taxes on the sale and licensing on the seller money, which we do not receive now, and provide a higher level of safety to Maine consumers by ensuring their fireworks are safe not merely purchased at a roadside stand."
For a $1,500 licensing fee, in-state retailers would be allowed to sell fireworks to anyone over 21. This, he says, also means that the state's commercial fireworks operators for municipal events will be spending their money in-state. "This is money our general fund, especially during this difficult economic time, could use," Gooley says.
Although private firework displays are illegal, many Mainers ignore that law, purchasing them in New Hampshire and bringing them back to the Pine Tree State regardless - a point sarcastically made by Republican Rep. Richard Sykes from District 98, which includes Bridgton and Harrison.
"Senator Gooley, I'm confused," Sykes said. "You say in here that you're going to remove the prohibition of fireworks in the state of Maine. Are you sure that it's against the law to have fireworks in the state of Maine? On the 4th of July, I go up and down my lake and everybody's got fireworks. Are you positive?"
"My concern here is with a policy which seems to have no coherent relationship with the general facts of policymaking," says one of the bill's supporters, former GOP congressional candidate John Frary - also of Farmington.
The banning of fireworks is illogical, he says, given the free availability of other, more dangerous implements. "I can go into any hardware store and buy myself a chainsaw, and walk out ready to let all the sawdust and human parts fly through the air -- 192,000 accidents from chainsaws last year, according to the consumer products safety commission. And what is it -- something like 5,000 -- for fireworks.
"My name if John Dean. I am the state Fire Marshall and it will come as no surprise to anyone here that I will be testifying in opposition to this bill." Dean says the risk to children is his biggest concern. "One out of every three people injured are children under age of 15. The injuries to children occur despite repeated warnings printed on the packages of fireworks by the manufacturers themselves, that fireworks are not to be used by children."
Furthermore, he says, New Hampshire, where fireworks are legal, has three times as many fires as Maine, which has about