Independence Day and the right to Bear Fireworks

Today is a big day in the American calendar. The 4th of July celebrates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, when the fledgling United States of America officially declared their independence from British rule.

It's a national holiday, so I'm able to take a day off from pestering doctors and nurses with my fancy new drugs literature. However, like during most American holidays, the commercial monster doesn't let up and most of the shops and supermarkets are still open.

Since the first anniversary of independence, way back in 1777, fireworks have played a big part of the 4th July celebrations. And in a sketchy scheme straight out of the Dukes of Hazzard, local authorities are anxious to take their piece of the explosives pie.

In New Jersey, fireworks are illegal, plain and simple. You can't buy them. You can't transport them. You can't own them. Firing them off is a pretty risky operation, since the police will be on your doorstep in minutes.

The theory goes that banning fireworks will drive Jersey's residents to officially sanctioned events, like the Auten Road fireworks I blogged about a few days ago.

Yet in the spirit of American independence, residents support their right to bear fireworks as vehemently as their right to bear arms (which is another heavily restricted privilege in New Jersey.)

And this is where the whole operation starts to resemble Prohibition Era bootlegging more than fussy Government bureaucracy.

Because in neighbouring Pennsylvania, it's also illegal for residents to buy, transport, own or explode fireworks. Residents of Pennsylvania, that is. If a New Jersey resident crosses the state line and shows appropriate out-of-state I.D., they can pile up their SUV's with mountains of bottle rockets, M80s and other fireworks. The rule is that they have 24 hours to get them out of the state of Pennsylvania. Where they go and what happens to them... Well, if it's beyond the state line, that's not the authorities problem, is it?

So an emerging market has been created, driving residents of NJ across the state line to enormous fireworks warehouses. Here they can buy hundreds of pounds worth of explosives to take home and detonate in their gardens, just like the founding fathers did two hundred years ago.

Except of course, as soon as you cross the state line back home again, the boxes of bangers in your back seat immediately become illegal merchandise - and canny coppers are waiting to pounce on the border; arresting, impounding and seizing all the illegal merchandise.

Thanks to George Bush's anti terror legislation, you can even get busted on Conspiracy to Cause Explosions if you're carting enough firecrackers. With time behind bars, thousands of dollars worth of fines and the risk of losing your car or truck as deterrents, it's a pretty risky business.

But the challenge itself - and the principle of the matter (when it comes to explosives and guns, Americans stick to their principles) has led more and more New Jersey residents to run the gauntlet. Yesterday, the Home News Tribune reported over 50 arrests and 8,000 lbs of fireworks impounded by local Police in the last month alone.

It's almost as if the danger encourages people to do it. They cook up more and more complex schemes to avoid the Smokeys and get their illegal cargo home. From switching plates (Pennsylvania and New Jersey licence plates) to switching cars (renting them in Pennsylvania and leaving your Jersey car on the border) there are all sorts of permutations to be plotted to avoid the cops.

Yet police are getting more and more devious as well. The current plan is to leave an unmarked car in the Fireworks Warehouse parking lot and radio in the Jersey plates as and when they drive off. Police Cruisers will be waiting for the offenders as soon as they drive over the state lines.

It really is straight out of Smokey and the Bandit or the Dukes of Hazzard. It makes a mockery out of the law - which was pretty much a sham to begin with. Just like Boss Hogg's schemes were generally crooked ways to raise revenue, the more obscure state and county laws seem focused on massive fines and impounding property rather than protecting the public and serving the community.

One thing's for certain. Even the most law abiding New Jersey residents have a sneaking respect for the fireworks smugglers - and there will be far more fireworks displays this holiday weekend than the official ones sanctioned by the New Jersey authorities.