Bill Legalizing Fireworks In Minnesota Fizzles Out In Committee

ST. PAUL, MN — A bill that would have legalized the sale of bottle rockets, Roman candles, firecrackers and other higher-powered pyrotechnics failed to get the approval of a Minnesota House of Representatives committee on Wednesday.

The legislation failed along party lines during a meeting of the Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee on Wednesday. Republican Rep. Chris Swedzinski sponsored the bill.

Had it passed, the bill also would have permitted shooting off approved consumer-grade fireworks between noon and 10 p.m., or 90 minutes after sunset, whichever is later.

Under current law, most fireworks are illegal in Minnesota. Retailers can sell novelties, including sparklers, snakes and smoke devices, but cannot sell firecrackers and other more powerful fireworks that go airborne.

All four of Minnesota’s neighboring states have more permissive firework laws.

Swedzinski said he hoped that legalizing more fireworks in Minnesota would keep residents in the state during the annual celebration of Independence Day.

“The annual travel to other states to purchase said fireworks is part of that celebration," Swedzinski said.

It’s best to keep that money here in the state, he added, and the bill would have used sales tax revenue — estimated to be between $3 million and $6 million annually — from fireworks purchases to advance public safety initiatives.

Andrew Belland, a state-licensed pyrotechnician from Pine City, echoed the financial aspect and said prohibition does not work.

“Minnesotans are already lighting recreational fireworks regardless of our current laws. Prohibition has not stopped the use [of fireworks], it has only pushed sales across borders," Belland said.

That argument did not sway Democratic–Farmer–Labor Rep. Pete Johnson, a former firefighter who said any economic benefits are not worth the human suffering more powerful fireworks could cause.

“I’ve spent time sifting through yards looking for fingers that people have blown off. I’ve gone to calls where they’ve blown up in people’s faces, and ruptured eardrums, damaged eyes, head injuries,” he said. “That is the reality of what these things do.”