Fireworks ban blasts government reach

If it’s forbidden fruit you’re seeking, forget the Garden of Eden. The Garden State offers something so much better. Something that can provide a spark, light up your life, and keep your flame burning bright: Firecrackers.

And they’re illegal – statewide, along with bottle rockets, Roman candles and pretty much all other fireworks. So be careful lighting those nefarious instruments of destruction. Unlike merely incurring original sin, possession of fireworks is far worse: Big fines and a possible trip to a Jersey prison — as some undoubtedly discovered during Independence Day festivities.

How ironic that the very instruments of celebration that John Adams said should forever commemorate our independence — “It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more” — are banned. But the real kicker is the effort put into enforcing that law, as families are continually badgered by police for simply trying to have responsible fun.

All of which means that New Jersey is apparently the safest state in the Union because, given the sizable state police resources used to combat fireworks, it must be free of murders, rapes, robberies and drugs.

After all, fireworks always rank right up there as one of the most pressing issues, along with curbing your dog and jaywalking. Clearly, controlling the possession and transportation of such items of mass destruction is paramount in the Garden State.

The threat of anyone in New Jersey enjoying themselves is so great, and so irksome to government, that undercover storm troopers — sorry, meant “state” troopers — are sometimes sent across enemy lines (the JerseyPennsylvania border) to stake out the parking lots of fireworks stores.

There, they lie in wait for consumers with Jersey tags. After stealthily tracking those individuals on their return trip, they radio ahead to marked units on the down side of the bridge who nail the lawbreakers. In doing so, they perpetuate the public’s feeling that too many police are being used as revenue collectors.

Does the government have nothing better to do? Is it so safe that taxpayer-funded police feel the need to harass New Jersey citizens in another state?

New Jersey politicians and bureaucrats even had the audacity to complain to Pennsylvania officials about the “legal loophole” of allowing Jersey residents to buy fireworks in Pennsylvania since they are illegal in New Jersey.

Loophole? It’s not a loophole. It’s freedom, clearly a principle that exists in small quantities across the Delaware River. What right does an official in New Jersey have to tell its citizens that they cannot engage in a legal activity in another state? Where does the government’s power grab end?

And let’s be perfectly honest. The regulations banning fireworks in New Jersey don’t stem from preventing forest fires. Instead, they are all about a paternalistic government that clearly advances the notion that it, not the people, knows best.

It is a mentality that parents are not capable of properly supervising their children with fireworks, so the government must step in and take control. Forget that the vast majority of revelers use fireworks with care, and that accidents are rare. New Jersey government, playing right into America’s culture of fear, thinks its nanny-state intervention will eliminate the “risk of getting hurt.”

What’s next? Banning skateboards? How about making the minimum driving age twentyfive? Or mandating that coffee be served at a lukewarm 75 degrees to prevent burns?

And how is it that millions of Americans in so many other states use fireworks safely and responsibly?

The irony of these Gestapolike tactics is that it illustrates the beauty of America: No one has to live in New Jersey. If a state’s power becomes too onerous, one can move without asking permission and without retribution. And it’s precisely why the “red-blue” divide in this country is becoming wider than ever. Blue states continue to over-regulate and overtax, while red states offer a freer environment in which to work and live. The statistics don’t lie — over the past several decades, the states with booming populations, the highest job creation, and the most robust economies are red. The fact that we have such a choice is uniquely American.

So if you happen to be in the People’s Republic of New Jersey celebrating a holiday or simply partying, have a great time lighting up your … flashlights.

Until they also get banned.