Firework Vendors Want Bottle Rockets

State lawmakers banned their sale, but an effort is underway to again allow the sale of bottle rockets.

Area fireworks vendors have started a petition drive, but not everyone thinks bottle rockets are a harmless part of the Fourth of July.

Vendors are circulating petitions to get allow sales to those over the age of 18.They'll have to get almost 13,000 signatures by early August to get the issue on the November ballot.

Though some fire works can be fun and pretty, according to Mark Sczepanski, MD, of the North Dakota Eye Clinic, some like bottle rockets can also be dangerous.

"They travel at a very high rate of speed and have a very unpredictable path. You can be injured from the projectile itself or the explosion."

That's why the North Dakota legislature last year banned selling bottle rockets in the state. Sczepanski said the little rockets can cause big problems.

" There's a lot of derangement that can occur from the injury itself and it may not occur for a few days. The eye is extremely sensitive"

But some people don't see eye-to-eye on the issue.

Jerry Breyer of Generous Jerry's Fireworks said, "I can go in a hardware store and pick out one-hundred items that are every bit as dangerous as bottle rockets. Everything requires responsibility."

Breyer and other fireworks distributors wants to allow sales of bottle rockets to people over 18.

" Some people say that it won't work, well the liquor stores keep people 21 and under out."

But Sczepanski says accidents can happen.

"The worst part of that is most of the injured is not the person firing the bottle rocket, it's the bystander."

No matter how you spend your Fourth of July, Sczepanski said when it comes to fireworks, one thing is for sure.

" Common sense goes a long way."

Tags: fourth of july, brady mallory, eye care, eye injury, bottle rockets, generous jerry, mark sczepanski, news, fireworks, eye, rockets, explosion, july