Serious question regarding fireworks legality

[pyrosamm]

I have lived my 46 years of life so far in California. Of those 46 years i have been a pyro for 32 years. Ive been making my own fireworks for 20 years. All while living in California. Well i have recently made the decision to get the hell out of here and reside in a fireworks friendly state. This requires me to do about 4 days of research only to find that theres no real way of determining if fireworks are legal and or when they can be discharged for hardly any states, counties, or cities. I of course know all about the individual state laws posted on APA's site, but have no interest in those because well half of them are inaccurate. I could care less about what state laws say on fireworks unless it says that they are 100% illegal. So screw the states rules i have realized that fireworks laws can be broken down to four groups. State law, county ordinance, city or "town" rules and Indian reservations. In my opinion there is no need for such levels of laws when the truth is there is only one set of laws that actually determines if your in trouble for fireworks fun. The one set of laws is your own municipality "city" you live in or that you want to shoot fireworks in. Yes with local cities having jurisdiction over fireworks in their town, that is the set of laws you should be focused on. Who cares about state and county laws when its your cities rules that determine whether your going to jail or not. Ever since joining PGI 15+ years ago I have always regarded states like Wyoming, New mexico, the Dakotas, and Missouri as being states with the most firework friendly laws, well i was wrong!

Fireworks are legal in these states year round, but you sure as hell cant shoot fireworks year round. I am not interested in living in a place where fireworks are only legal to shoot from June 28th thru July 5th. I want to live in a city or county where every night when i get off work i can fire a few shells or try out a new rocket I have made. I dont want to worry about who calls cops and gets me in trouble..Soooooooooooooo with that being said ..............

Can people please share with me their cities or counties that permit legal use of fireworks year round, not just purchase but to shoot as well. Its very in depth researching each states counties and then cities VERY time consuming. So far here is what i have discovered, South Carolina is most ideal state to reside as a pyro, with the counties of Dillon, Charleston, Jacksonville, and f airfield being the ones who specifically say fireworks can be used 365 days a year. Oh also Chester, Pennsylvania is very cool with their laws. Can some of you reply to this thread telling me of other city's ordinances that allow year round discharging of fireworks please help me out here...
thanks
sam

[MtnViewPyro]

Where I reside, the “law” requires a permit to discharge fireworks. You can simply request firework permits every day if you wish. However, if you live outside the city limits, you can shoot whenever you wish. I have a 25acre piece of property in the city limits and the cops/city council are rather friendly so I never worry about getting into trouble as long as I’m not blasting all day or each day. To be honest, where I live, the county probably does not have any laws regarding fireworks because they have other important stuff to do. I should warn you though, if you live outside the city limits around these parts you could go days without seeing another person lol. I live in Mtn. View, MO that’s in Howell County. Howell County might be more restrictive in larger communities, but surrounding counties like Shannon and Texas are so rural, shooting a firework everyday would go unnoticed. Good luck on your move!

[Mauro]

I live in Mansfield Tx (which is not a friendly FW city btw) But my wife’s family owns 6 acres in a part of the city that is rural and belongs to Tarrant County. Tarrant County Only restrictions on FW’s are for shooting displays. Permit is about $150 per display. But for just shooting products not in a display, there’s no laws or restriction, except for state and federal restrictions and laws (like no shooting in proximity of schools, church, gas pipe, not shooting from a vehicle, etc). So I Shoot a few items there every other weekend. Cops will not go there at all so there’s no worry about them enforcing stuff, if there’s anything to enforce. Wherever you go just make sure you’re outside of city limits and the county doesn’t have specific restrictions on whatever you wanna do. Just get the hell out of there while you still can! Lol

[displayfireworks1]

I did not see it mentioned. Where ever you go get an ATF license. Open areas and distance between neighbors is always a plus

[pyrosamm]

I did not see it mentioned. Where ever you go get an ATF license. Open areas and distance between neighbors is always a plus

Hows penn new laws working out for you what exactly can you do now and when? year round? or only week of the 4th?

[Pyro Dave]

Its brand new in Pa. You will have to wait a few years to see where it all ends up.

[displayfireworks1]

Here in Pennsylvania my behavior has not changed much. I thought I would hear fireworks going off all the time, but I do not. I bet if I walked into the Pittsburgh Pa Phantom Fireworks store tomorrow at say 3pm, I bet there may be one or two people in the store. Pennsylvania recently legalized the sale of Consumer Fireworks and from my view point not much has changed. Its interesting how the average person never feels the desire to purchase or use fireworks until the July 4th holiday. They may also find it unusual if someone else is using them during the year other than July 4th.
I was not home for the days around July 4th . my wife told me the neighborhood was pretty noisy with fireworks use. I will be home for New Years Eve if all goes as planned. I'll take note of how my neighborhood looks and sounds that night.

[wingman]

I moved to Montana a little under three years ago. While it's a fireworks friendly state, the regulations and ordinances vary from town to town and county to county. Where I live, we're allowed to shoot everything off during the 3rd through 5th of July with a 10pm curfew, and 31st of January with a 1230am curfew. Folks around here love fireworks - at least the majority. Most also have a sense of respect for this curfew because you damn well know the 'Good old' boys' of city hall will be one pen-stroke away from banning fireworks within city limits. As long as that curfew is respected then nobody will be 'That Guy' who ruined it for the rest of us. While I haven't ventured outside city limits to shoot stuff off extensively, the great thing is there isn't any curfew or ordinance against year round use out in the country, but common courtesy rules.

[rreffner]

I have lived my 46 years of life so far in California. Of those 46 years i have been a pyro for 32 years. Ive been making my own fireworks for 20 years. All while living in California. Well i have recently made the decision to get the hell out of here and reside in a fireworks friendly state. This requires me to do about 4 days of research only to find that theres no real way of determining if fireworks are legal and or when they can be discharged for hardly any states, counties, or cities. I of course know all about the individual state laws posted on APA's site, but have no interest in those because well half of them are inaccurate. I could care less about what state laws say on fireworks unless it says that they are 100% illegal. So screw the states rules i have realized that fireworks laws can be broken down to four groups. State law, county ordinance, city or "town" rules and Indian reservations. In my opinion there is no need for such levels of laws when the truth is there is only one set of laws that actually determines if your in trouble for fireworks fun. The one set of laws is your own municipality "city" you live in or that you want to shoot fireworks in. Yes with local cities having jurisdiction over fireworks in their town, that is the set of laws you should be focused on. Who cares about state and county laws when its your cities rules that determine whether your going to jail or not. Ever since joining PGI 15+ years ago I have always regarded states like Wyoming, New mexico, the Dakotas, and Missouri as being states with the most firework friendly laws, well i was wrong!

Fireworks are legal in these states year round, but you sure as hell cant shoot fireworks year round. I am not interested in living in a place where fireworks are only legal to shoot from June 28th thru July 5th. I want to live in a city or county where every night when i get off work i can fire a few shells or try out a new rocket I have made. I dont want to worry about who calls cops and gets me in trouble..Soooooooooooooo with that being said ..............

Can people please share with me their cities or counties that permit legal use of fireworks year round, not just purchase but to shoot as well. Its very in depth researching each states counties and then cities VERY time consuming. So far here is what i have discovered, South Carolina is most ideal state to reside as a pyro, with the counties of Dillon, Charleston, Jacksonville, and f airfield being the ones who specifically say fireworks can be used 365 days a year. Oh also Chester, Pennsylvania is very cool with their laws. Can some of you reply to this thread telling me of other city's ordinances that allow year round discharging of fireworks please help me out here...
thanks
sam
Tough one. As mentioned above it?s the locality more than the state. In my location in Pa, i am lucky. No ordinance as my township has jurisdiction, i fall outside borough limits...I can set off 1.4 all I want, unless someone gets pissed due to noise and it?s at an unreasonable hour. 1.3 May be able to be mixed in in small doses. Haven?t checked on that yet.Have had police come by and admire my fireworks. Good report with them, will give heads up any time I do a show at home. I?m fortunate to have safe distances for 1.4 and some small 1.3. It?s all research and locality. Of course, avoid ct, ma, ny, and de. Pa is pretty friendly.
As Dave said, get your ATF type 54. Glad I did, and while it won?t be used much for my personal shows at home, I can attend open shoots and such, and shoot stuff off at my land a few miles away.
In Pa, you must have 150? from an occupied structure for 1.4, and no aerials in most city limits. In town, most are disqualified by the 150? rule though.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

I live in Tampa, Florida. Fireworks are illegal in Florida, period. Yet every year I'm able to shoot cases and cases of fireworks. This year I think I shot 55 cases. The entire town lights up on the 4th. Many shoot on New Years Eve and Christmas day too. I've never heard of anyone being arrested or even harassed by the cops. Having said that, there's not that much shooting outside of those three days. At least not in this part of Florida.

[Kenny East]

I'm in Michigan, I usually shoot on a farm located pretty far away from any population center. I do know a few guys who get permission from local city office or police department to shoot on days that are not covered by our federal holiday allowance for shooting.

City's are allowed to designate their own rules regarding discharge, including time and restrictions on what is used inside city limits. Fairly pyro friendly state though, many retailers, as well as a few clubs.

[Pyroman5000]

Here in Pennsylvania my behavior has not changed much. I thought I would hear fireworks going off all the time, but I do not. I bet if I walked into the Pittsburgh Pa Phantom Fireworks store tomorrow at say 3pm, I bet there may be one or two people in the store. Pennsylvania recently legalized the sale of Consumer Fireworks and from my view point not much has changed. Its interesting how the average person never feels the desire to purchase or use fireworks until the July 4th holiday. They may also find it unusual if someone else is using them during the year other than July 4th.
I was not home for the days around July 4th . my wife told me the neighborhood was pretty noisy with fireworks use. I will be home for New Years Eve if all goes as planned. I'll take note of how my neighborhood looks and sounds that night.

I live in western pa and In a small town and shoot off fireworks about once a month and no one has said anything about it. I have noticed more people shooting them off now that it?s legal.