Post Deleted Overloaded Fireworks Product

[displayfireworks1]

I deleted a post in regard to a common overloaded fireworks product. I may not always remove such a post.This time I did by request. I personally have mixed feeling about these products. They caused a major commotion at the PGI convention and damaged the profitability of many good people in the business by not allowing any of the previous distributors to attend the last convention. While some of these products are fun and fulfill a need for the advanced enthusiast, they cause competitive disadvantages, and damage the reputation of the entire industry particularly when they are sold to novice users. I like them and I hate them and those feeling change from time to time. Thus, I have mixed feelings about them. But I certainly do not want a reputation of protecting them.
The solution in my mind is to develop the Articles of Pyrotechnic classification. The Tannerite M-25 is the best recent example. I am talking with a few people in the business to develop a certification in this area. If some of these current overloaded products could be classified as Articles Of Pyrotechnics this would eliminate off the shelf competition with legitimate product but still allow an advanced enthusiast to purchase them. A novice user could not purchase unless they receive the Articles of Pyrotechnic training certification. As the number of certification grows , the distributors will invest to develop new AP products to meet that demand.

[countryboy7978]

I am all for overloads. They have been around ever since salute bans and flash powder limits have been introduced. However my biggest beef comes because of the evolution of technology. In the 70's, 80's, 90's and early 2000's you didn't have smartphones, video sharing applications and the ability to share things with the world in a matter of seconds. This "thing of ours" was SECRET! I think that's the biggest reason some people had beef with the ATF license information being made public on social media. While it might be good to share as much knowledge as possible, it doesn't come without drawbacks. Nobody can argue that 1.3 has become much more common than ever before, and that's not necessarily a good thing. While deaths and injuries are still a very very small percentage, the ones that happen nearly always make headlines. Headlines generate short-lived passion from the public and they enable the people that don't like fireworks or are trying to make a name for themselves in a regulatory or political environment to set their eyes on a target. I mean think about it....M-80's and cherry bombs were not maiming people in record numbers in the 50's and 60's as they would like you to believe. Someone got a bug up their respective hind-end and included them into a much larger ban of "dangerous" household items, and poof they are illegal. Certain manufacturers refused to give up their life long trade (John Miller Sr. in particular) and did everything they could to circumvent the ban. Some government official with a hatred for firecrackers decided to start a movement to not only enforce the ban but to make their possession, sale, production, and use a felony because they didn't like Miller and other in the industry. Wrap your arms around that.... a person charged with selling firecrackers could potentially go to prison for longer than someone who is an armed robber! For firecrackers!! So the media slowly brainwashes the public to think of cherry bombs are IEDs or illegal explosives. Now you have pyros calling them such. Sad!!
The fear with all this knowledge is that a major crackdown occurs. We (the people who always kept it quiet and didn't get in trouble) now have a harder time enjoying our hobby. My long rant was here to make my point that even though I (and many others) feel that thinks like 2-3 gram firecrackers, thunder cakes, small single shot reports, and flash broken color cakes should be legal 1.4, they are not. As a result my feeling is that they should not be posted about publicly! For some people it's a way to show how much cooler they are than the people who can only buy TNT or Phantom product. Look at the "bangers" I have...."you already know what these do....wink wink". While most investigations that result in recalls and confiscations are the result of competitors turning each other in, the videos provide evidence and worse, they expose the product availability to those novice or careless users. I mean what 20-something urbanite isn't going to want to "rock his block" and have all the girls weak in the knees over his pyrotechnic prowess. This is my beef. Keep it quiet. Keep it to the firework store back-room. Keep it on to private circles, but for goodness sake don't tell the world not only what it's called but where to buy it or how much composition it has in it!

I don't think we will get small salutes and flash broken items into 1.4 Articles Pyrotechnic anytime soon. We can hope but I don't see it happening. Tanner is an anomaly. my $.02

[PyroManiacs]

Very.Well.Said.

[Big Worm]

Probably the time of year to give this thread a bump back to the top of the list.

[MtnViewPyro]

Yes!!! I agree completely. I posted a video on YouTube about stash videos. https://youtu.be/d2L-ju_f_aU

I don’t have many followers or views, funny thing is, when I posted this video it quickly received dislikes. Not only are people unknowingly making a mistake by discussing these products online, they get mad when you tell them it’s not smart to do so lol.