Time to blow stuff up

About this time every year, we get the great idea to show our love of America by blowing a bunch of stuff up. Our massive "I love you" is spelled with burning red strontium in the sky. With a little match and a lot of gunpowder, you too can blow your patriotism sky-high.\nFor some reason or another, the government of the state of Indiana does not want us to express ourselves with rocket-propelled incendiary devices. Why? The world might never know. Maybe they are afraid that cities like Bloomington will be mystically transformed into Mexican villages from the Wild West where half of the town shows their joy by firing their six-shooters into the air; only with our modern flair perhaps we would be hurling grenades, too. I can see the chaos now: Thousands of people in the streets drunkenly cheering, naked men trying to scale greased poles to dangle from the traffic lights … Oh wait, I was there about two years ago when we made it to the Final Four!\nFireworks are on sale everywhere. You can walk into any of the many specialty shops that pop up in abandoned strip-malls this time of year and buy anything from M-40s to these enormous artillery shells that could take out a Black Hawk at 700 meters.\nThe funny thing is they're illegal.\nThe only fireworks that are legal in the state of Indiana are sparklers, those stupid snake things and the little fountain things you set on the ground that make a small shower of sparks. Whenever you buy the illegal (aka fun) variety, which would be any that launch through the air or explode, you have to sign a waiver promising that you aren't going to use them in the state.\nWhatever.\nNo matter what people sign or how many dollar licenses they have to get from the vendor, people are going to be shooting Blackcats and Roman Candles everywhere. Just wait and see. Tomorrow, when the sun goes down, the firefight will begin. Actually, now that I think about it, I can hear some firecrackers out in the parking lot now.\nLet's see if I have this right: You can buy just about any firework you want right here in good old Bloomington. It is, however, illegal to use most of these fireworks in Indiana. So, you have to sign a waiver promising to use them out of the state or at an approved site with a licensed pyrotechnician.\nThis is a perfect example of a worthless law. It is understood by the government that the fireworks laws will not be enforced. So, why are they still there? Or, if the government believes strongly enough in their convictions that fireworks are bad, they ought to try to enforce the laws. It is currently a misdemeanor to illegally use these explosives. I understand that no officer wants to arrest some guy for doing the same thing the officer has done with his or her own kids.\n This year, however, a new fireworks law goes into effect. Hospitals will be required to report the number of injuries they treat that are related to the illegal use of fireworks. It is perhaps through the application of this law that we might learn whether the Indiana laws on the matter are warranted. If indeed scores of people are being injured by these devices, then we need to move toward enforcing the laws we have.\nHowever, if we learn by virtue of the new reporting law that fireworks are not causing any more harm than other common recreational activities, such as football, then it is time to remove these worthless laws from our books.\nBut right now it's time to blow stuff up!