It’s a little early to be talking about Independence Day fireworks, but it’s fresh in the minds of the Covington City Council Members.

Last month, there were two fireworks-related items on the agenda; one to ban fireworks completely, and one to consider changing the penalties. For all you fireworks lovers who aren’t paying attention, the absolute ban on fireworks only needed two more votes to become law, but fortunately it failed.

However, the second one will likely go into effect, once the staff finishes drafting the law. As the law stands now, if you’re caught blowing up fireworks on July 3, for example, you could be arrested for a misdemeanor or a gross misdemeanor, depending on how many fireworks you have or blew up. The City Council is proposing that the first two times that you’re caught, you’ll get a fine instead, and the third time would still be a misdemeanor. They’ll even consider allowing firefighters to issue fines.

But is all this really necessary? Banning fireworks on July 3 is more of a nuisance issue, not a public safety one. Besides, you can blow off your hand just as easily on a non-holiday.

We’ve been warned about the dangers of fireworks for many years, but we keep buying them anyway. In 1976, Americans bought 29 million pounds of fireworks, and by 2005, that number had increased to over 280 million pounds. Injuries actually declined by 90 percent during that period, on a per capita basis. Between 1994 and 2007, the total number of fireworks injuries dropped by 21 percent, despite their increased use.

Indiana changed their laws to allow the discharge of fireworks in 2006, and the hysterical naysayers predicted that the injuries would increase, now that the public’s safety was a major concern. Except that it wasn’t, and fireworks injuries actually decreased.

How can that be? Think about it; even though there are plenty of places where shooting off fireworks is illegal, it happens anyway. In those places, the thrill of blowing something up also has the added thrill of avoiding capture. Those idiots care a lot less about using them safely, and are more likely to do stupid things with them. I know, because I was one of those idiots.

Fireworks and I have had a long love affair, beginning with bottle rocket and Roman candle wars in the street, to sparkler bombs and flaming gas balls. I once had a gun pulled on me after a wayward rocket exploded next to someone’s car. Did I learn my lesson? I sure did; I swore I wouldn’t buy those cheap 50-cent rockets again. You get what you pay for.

So if public safety isn’t the major concern, what is? For the people complaining about fireworks, it mostly has to do with the noise. The danger of houses burning down is still very rare, despite last year’s fire in Covington. TV news junkies know that every week someone starts a fire by barbecuing on an apartment balcony. Kitchen fires are far more dangerous and deadly, but governments aren’t regulating home cooking yet, or requiring you to get a license. Hopefully they never will.

For those of you complaining about the noise, get over it. You aren’t guaranteed freedom from annoyance by the people around you. John Adams wrote this about Independence Day, “It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more”. Can you imagine what he might say to a person complaining about the noise?

At some point, we have to take personal responsibility for our actions. By trying to legislate polite behavior and create a lot of nuisance laws, it allows us to be lazy by relying on the law, while slowly destroying social pressures that help us all get along. Instead of “you can’t do that because it’s not right”, we’re left with “you can’t do that because it’s against the law and you’ll get fined.”

Turning a misdemeanor into a fine isn’t the answer. Working on ways to encourage people to be responsible will make us better citizens and better neighbors.