[T]he National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) has co-founded an Alliance to Stop Consumer Fireworks. NFPA president Jim Shannon says, "Each year, nearly 10,000 people are treated in U.S. emergency rooms for fireworks-related injuries, and many of these injuries go hand-in-hand with Fourth of July celebrations" ... Suggested instead, "attending public fireworks displays put on by 'trained professionals'."
From the Right:
States such as New Jersey that have adopted more stringent regulations or bans haven't seen significant drops in the number of fireworks-related deaths, in part because there were few such deaths to begin with. During the last three years, states with bans actually had a higher fireworks-related death rate (.018 per million people) than states without restrictions (.014 per million).
Government can protect people from only so much, and if we banned all the products that caused more deaths and injuries than fireworks, there would be virtually nothing left to use. The freedom we celebrate on the Fourth of July doesn't mean much if we criminalize even the tiny risks associated with fireworks.
I lean toward Instapundit's view:
I say, do it yourself if you want, just be smart. 'Leave it to the trained professionals' is one of the cancerous mantras of our age, and there’s a big difference between setting off your own fireworks and sitting passively while others do it for you — the difference, if I may say so, between having sex and watching porn. And, in both cases, the presence of a degree of risk is part of the difference.
Reynolds is absolutely correct on the "leave it to professionals" comment; if government can ban any activity on the basis of some perceived risk, then what is left of freedom?
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