Don’t buy illegal fireworks. Legal fireworks reach store shelves after rigorous safety checks by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
The CPSC forbids fireworks that don't meet stringent regulations:7
- Ground-based fireworks with more than 50 mg of powder
- Aerial fireworks with more than 130 mg of powder
- Fuses that burn for less than three seconds or longer than nine seconds
Only buy your fireworks from licensed dealers and choose models that are approved by the CPSC. Illegal fireworks don't meet safety standards because they’re often too large for use.
Purchasing illegal fireworks can also land you with a ticket, jail time, or serious injury. And if you think the cops or neighbors won’t notice, it’s kind of hard to disguise a “boom” that big.