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N.Y. Cops In Pa. Fireworks Stakeouts (NYPD seizes cars of NYers who legally buy fireworks in PA)
NY Post ^ | June 19, 2006 | Larry Celona And Dan Mangan

Posted on 06/19/2006 8:10:58 AM PDT by dead

Undercover NYPD cops are cracking down on New York buyers of illegal fireworks by staking out Pennsylvania vendors - and, for the first time, seizing the cars of people who travel out of state to get their Fourth of July fireworks.

So far this year, cops have seized 30 vehicles belonging to New York ers as they return home from Penn sylvania after buying fireworks there, and have arrested 60 people, according to a report in New York magazine this week. The report says undercover cops have been watching Pennsylvania fireworks vendors and looking for New York license plates. The heightened enforcement comes after Mayor Bloomberg's law-enforcement officials noted an increase in illegal fireworks set off during last Fourth of July on Staten Island.

One Pennsylvania merchant, Bill Weimer, told the magazine that he asks New York police to quit taking pictures of his customer's license plates and leave his stores but that they go across the street and "give off that New York cop attitude."

In an odd twist, New Yorkers - who are barred from possessing fireworks in their home state - can legally buy them in Pennsylvania, which prohibits sales only to its own residents.

A law-enforcement source told The Post yesterday that the NYPD also has confiscated hundreds more cases of fireworks this year compared with last year. More than 1,000 cases have been seized to date, as against 150 last year...

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: New York; US: Pennsylvania
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To: MineralMan
As soon as the last shell of the finale went off, it seemed like the entire city put on its own finale display

YES! I love the fourth. Your a lucky man to be able to view people celibrating freedom with such fervor.

61 posted on 06/19/2006 9:12:18 AM PDT by vikzilla
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To: Lunatic Fringe; SoothingDave

Pennsylvania law was changed two years ago allowing stores to sell fireworks otherwise illegal in the Commonwealth to out of state residents ONLY. Living in a border County, we have two of these operations. One checks ID at the door; if you have a PA driver's license you don't get in. The other checks ID at the counter. The boring fireworks can be sold to anyone; anything that flies up can be sold only to out of staters who also have to sign a form that they will immediately transport our of PA.


62 posted on 06/19/2006 9:13:15 AM PDT by lightman (The Office of the Keys should be exercised as some ministry needs to be exorcised.)
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To: BenLurkin

Just another trashing of American's rights that is not practiced against illegals!

Asset Forfeiture is being used by L.E. for all sorts of "enforcement" that it was never intended for.

But I have never heard of a single case of it being used to enforce our immigration laws.
Virtually everything an illegal has in the U.S. is stolen, either directly or bought with funds earned via illegal employment.


63 posted on 06/19/2006 9:14:31 AM PDT by Richard-SIA ("The natural progress of things is for government to gain ground and for liberty to yield" JEFFERSON)
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To: SoothingDave

Is there ANY American fireworks manufacturer anymore? All this stuff seems to be made in China today, and not always with much precautions.


64 posted on 06/19/2006 9:15:41 AM PDT by The Red Zone
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To: MineralMan
Compare, for example:

Class B shells (3,4,5 inch)

With special ATF license (not DOT, my mistake) needed to purchase.

with your typical consumer reloadable shells

SD

65 posted on 06/19/2006 9:15:48 AM PDT by SoothingDave
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To: MineralMan

I had the same thing here in my old neighborhood here in FL.

It was a poor neighborhood, and I can tell you in FL the poor man's entertainment is holiday decorations. To sit in your driveway on the 4th was incredible. People saved up all year to shoot off professional mortars, I guess. They were coming from all sides, fountains and rockets and everything.

I sat there with my hose and a lady from MA, and we had a terrific time. She was in awe. It was wonderful. I hate the firework Nazis.

Christmas is the same way, they actually put poles over the street and spread Christmas lights overhead so you travel down the street through tunnels of lights. They cover every inch of the houses and lawns with lights inches apart.

My new neighborhood is nicer, but much more staid.


66 posted on 06/19/2006 9:16:32 AM PDT by I still care ("Remember... for it is the doom of men that they forget" - Merlin, from Excalibur)
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To: SoothingDave

"I don't know where he got them from, but anything of that size is not supposed to be sold without a DOT professional license. I can understand being wary of that going off in your neighborhood.
"

I don't know, and didn't ask. I suppose there's a black market for this stuff, like there is for just about everything. Wherever they came from, he wasn't the only one. I like fireworks, and my Dad, who is a fireman, used to put on the show in my little home town, down at the football field. So I got familiar with pro fireworks back in the 50s and early 60s.

I can recognize stuff pretty well when it fires, just from the whump! it makes. Lots of big items going off around here.

The 4th is coming up fast, and the preliminary fireworks have already begun going off every night. Some of my neighbors are probably going to have to make another run across the border, from the sound of the past couple of evenings.


67 posted on 06/19/2006 9:16:33 AM PDT by MineralMan (non-evangelical atheist)
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To: Gabz

But now it's like the yacht that capsized in shark infested waters and all men aboard were devoured except for the one who was a lawyer. When the sharks were later interviewed as to why, they replied: "Professional courtesy."


68 posted on 06/19/2006 9:18:09 AM PDT by The Red Zone
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To: Richard-SIA
Asset Forfeiture is being used by L.E. for all sorts of "enforcement" that it was never intended for.

(sarcasm)Boy. We didn't see that one coming...(/sarcasm)

Of course, we were told not to worry about it. "It's only so drug dealers don't hide their cash in property..."

Yeah right. Pull my other leg.

69 posted on 06/19/2006 9:18:38 AM PDT by Dead Corpse (It is not the oath that makes us believe the man, but the man the oath.- Aeschylus)
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To: The Red Zone
Is there ANY American fireworks manufacturer anymore?

The Phantom people run a sparkler plant near Youngstown. The Zambelli's in PA make their own fireworks, but that's for their pro shows, not for consumers. I don't think any consumer stuff is made here. Too many lawyers.

All this stuff seems to be made in China today, and not always with much precautions.

There's some cheap crap, but the brand name people prefer their customers remain unmaimed so there is considerable testing to CPSC standards.

SD

70 posted on 06/19/2006 9:19:31 AM PDT by SoothingDave
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To: I still care

Well, I really wouldn't appreciate HAVING to be there with a hose, rather than, say, out of town visiting family.


71 posted on 06/19/2006 9:19:38 AM PDT by The Red Zone
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To: MineralMan
I'm less than 20 miles from the Wisconsin border, where all fireworks are legal.

They are legal to buy, but they are illegal to use in Wisconsin unless you are licensed. This may have changed, but I don't believe so. In my township, I don't think you can even be licensed. It's a "catch" 22.

72 posted on 06/19/2006 9:20:16 AM PDT by codercpc
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To: tcostell

I love Kansas.

We shoot those huge artillery shells off during the 4th of July.

It truly is a sight you have to see sometime. My town is one of the few our size that stil allows fireworks without virtually any restrictions, and the night sky on July 4 is something I will never forget from my childhood. It was incredible and beautiful beyond belief.

It still is, though this may be the last summer I will get to see it since I am graduating college in the fall.


73 posted on 06/19/2006 9:20:35 AM PDT by rwfromkansas (http://xanga.com/rwfromkansas)
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To: SoothingDave

Precautions, I mean to those who assemble the stuff. China is not exactly a paragon of transparency into factories.


74 posted on 06/19/2006 9:22:44 AM PDT by The Red Zone
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To: Mannaggia l'America

If you want them, go to Missouri. Anything is legal there. It is heaven, and you don't have to prove you aren't from out of state.


75 posted on 06/19/2006 9:23:38 AM PDT by rwfromkansas (http://xanga.com/rwfromkansas)
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To: Renegade

We used to, as kids, just tape our M 80's to rocks and throw them at each other. Arrows are cooler.


76 posted on 06/19/2006 9:24:08 AM PDT by Sam Cree (Delicacy, precision, force)
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To: dead
Interesting. Hope your home doesn't burn down.

Fireworks are illegal everywhere in Alaska 'cept one small town which still allows the sale of such (and taxes the crap out of those sales.)

No harm, no foul?

In 1996 a fire, started by fireworks, destroyed 300 homes and burned 37,000 acres. Right now a fire is burning outside of Nenana (AK) and has burned over 65,000 acres of forest.

More personal? The park across the street from my home had some 30% of the entire park burned (trees and brush)down to the bare earth, thanks to "ta da" fireworks.

No thanks. Keep 'em illegal.
77 posted on 06/19/2006 9:24:55 AM PDT by ASOC (Choose between the lesser of two evils and in the end, you still have, well, evil.)
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To: SoothingDave

Here in Texas, fireworks is a year-round business with no restrictions.


78 posted on 06/19/2006 9:24:55 AM PDT by Lunatic Fringe (Man Law: You Poke It, You Own It)
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To: MineralMan

Safe and sane = pussy ass fireworks.

Thank God I don't live in California.


79 posted on 06/19/2006 9:24:55 AM PDT by rwfromkansas (http://xanga.com/rwfromkansas)
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To: DTogo

If we could just tie the fireworks to.........


80 posted on 06/19/2006 9:25:58 AM PDT by bmwcyle (Only stupid people would vote for McCain, Warner, Hagle, Snowe, Graham, or any RINO)
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