Shelley Bridgeman: Why ban fireworks?

Thanks to backyard fireworks, children will be hospitalised, property will be damaged and pets will be distressed. Photo / NZ Herald

So are you ready to let off a few crackers tonight? Go on, you know you want to. If you're really at a loose end why don't you light a few every night between now and New Year's Eve? That'll rattle those pesky neighbours and distress a few innocent pets in the process. You may as well. It's officially sanctioned mayhem. New Zealand's tepid legislation allows fireworks to be let off on private properties on any day and at any time. Woo hoo.

Two years ago I was all for banning fireworks and I'm certainly no fonder of them today. My main beef back then (aside from the annoyance factor) was centred on the harm they can cause animals. But, children can be seriously injured by fireworks as well. In 2013 one little Auckland girl was badly burned when a firecracker landed in the hood of her pyjamas.

In August a bid to ban the private use of fireworks was rejected by a Parliamentary committee. Evidently a ban "went too far" and "was unenforceable". I don't believe the "unenforceable" bit for a second. Fireworks are both noisy and highly visible. In fact, visibility just might be the main point of them. Good luck to anyone planning a secret fireworks display. It's a contradiction in terms. Everyone for miles around knows when fireworks are going off. It would be obvious if a ban was not being adhered to. Therefore it would be readily enforceable.

Sadly, at this time of year I could write the upcoming headlines myself. Thanks to backyard fireworks, children will be hospitalised, property will be damaged and pets will be distressed. It's likely a spooked horse will lose its life - just like this one in Kaikohe after celebrations to welcome in 2014. They will all be tragic stories. They will all be predictable. They will all be preventable.

But what disturbed me the most about the committee's recent deliberations was this quote: "We note that many New Zealanders value backyard fireworks as a nostalgic family tradition". Say what now? Since when does nostalgia play a role in determining legislative changes? Since when does warm and fuzzy nostalgia trump health and safety concerns?

Some of us might be nostalgic for the time we drove around without wearing seat belts. Some of us might reflect fondly on those days we swam in unfenced swimming pools. Some of us might be sentimental about getting the strap at school. Some of us might yearn for the days when we could smoke cigarettes in bars, restaurants and work-places. Some of us might wish we could still give kids a good clip around the ear.

That's nostalgia for you. The good old days are seldom as fine as rose-tinted memories suggest. Maybe it's the cigarette haze that makes those seat belt-less, unfenced decades of corporal punishment seem like golden times. Of course, fireworks aficionados will still be ruing the loss of sky rockets and double happies. Nostalgia clearly wasn't a factor when these particular explosives were outlawed a few years ago.

So, let's recap. Good: animals, children and fireworks bans. Bad: Current fireworks legislation, backyard crackers, burns, injuries and distressed pets - plus nostalgia and other unconvincing reasons for not instituting fireworks bans.

Debate on this article is now closed.