Time for some sanity around fireworks?

It’s almost that time of year when New Zealand is gripped with the pyrotechnic insanity that is Guy Fawkes.

It’s something that puts dread into the hearts of many a pet owner, exhausts animal shelters as well as fire services and yet bizarrely it goes ahead each year like clockwork.

Calling for a ban attracts cries of “don’t spoil our fun” from people who you’d charitably say weren’t aware of the mayhem and harm caused. The more cynical amongst us could also say that these people lacked empathy, simply don’t care and were too self involved to give a  damn.

Amazingly many of the people who are pro fireworks were amongst the first to express their anger at the shooting massacres in the US, smugly proclaiming that this sort of thing hardly ever happens in NZ as we have decent gun control laws.

Yet the reality is that for one week a year in NZ it is perfectly legal to sell a box of low power explosives and pyrotechnic devices to almost any consenting adult who’ll buy them. Making matters worse, many less scrupulous retailers are also happy to sell them to kids weeks before Guy Fawkes.

The parallels between the US gun law controversy and fireworks in NZ are eerily similar. A few crazed lunatics go on a shooting spree and responsible gun owners fear getting penalised. Sadly it’s the few bad apples in New Zealand that seem to go stupid with fireworks who are ruining it for the rest who enjoy fireworks every November.

Then there’s the pro gun people who argue that in the US it is their constitutional right to bear arms, regardless of how many kids are killed in each monthly shooting massacre. In New Zealand it is mostly pets and animals that cop the brunt of our crazy fireworks laws, yet some still feel compelled to argue that do-gooders are “ruining their fun”.  

This needn’t be the case. Banning the sale of fireworks to the general public and instead investing in professional fireworks displays managed by trained professionals could see a lot of damage, injury and heartache ended while people still got to enjoy far better fireworks than the box of 30 second fizzers sold each year.

Meanwhile, back in 2015, its already too late. We’re now two weeks away from Guy Fawkes yet we already have the first animal casualty. 

Tiny, a gentle and friendly greyhound was spooked by fireworks being set off at a park by kids - even though Guy Fawkes is still a fortnight away. At the time of writing Tiny has yet to be found and groups of greyhound owners are out searching.

I don’t know about you, but I find it bizarre that New Zealanders feel compelled to celebrate events that took place hundreds of years ago in a country on the other side of the world. You’d think that for all the clamour surrounding getting rid of the Union Jack off our flag,we’d feel a tad inclined to drop what is essentially a UK centric event that has little if not no relevance to New Zealand.

 Last year a petition made it to the Government asking for an end to the sale of fireworks to the general public. Sadly the Government referred it to a select committee who rejected the petition, ignoring 25,000 signatures as well as the phenomenal amount of damage done to property and injuries to animals/kids by fireworks over the years.

The select committee chair, Ruth Dyson said that  she believes that most people act responsibly and enforcing a ban would be tough on police. Well I guess poor Tiny must have encountered two irresponsible people who purchased fireworks from an irresponsible retailer. As for her comment about the Police, they are already doing a tough job, Boo bloody hoo.

Here’s the rub. If the ban did go ahead and even if that meant the life of one animal was saved, or one house was prevented from burn down, then that’s a massively positive outcome. Taking Dyson's comments to their logical extreme, we might as well give up on doing anything because it might be too tough. Perhaps New Zealand needs to grow a pair, especially when a simple and sane solution is within easy reach.

P.S. Several hours after this post was written, Tiny was found and returned home. Ain't happy endings just the best thing ever?