Fireworks frenzy
Fireworks – illegal but not enforceable

ABOVE: Jim peterson steps away after placing a display of "Laser Candle" fireworks at the Ellis Tanner fireworks tent just outside the Gallup city limits. The fireworks shoot displays into the air and work simular to a roman candle, but on a larger scale. The fireworks are only legal in the county, as were many others that were for sale at the tent. BELOW: Boxes of fireworks line the Ellis Tanner fireworks tent as shoppers browsed for their purchases Monday afternoon just outside the Gallup city limits. [photos by Daniel Zollinger / Independent]

By Kevin Killough
Staff writer

GALLUP — Firework vendors have set up in preparation for the holiday. But no one will find any sales of certain fireworks other than sparklers, cones, and snakes inside the city limits. If anyone wants a good set of bottle rockets or loud, whistling pinwheels, they have to drive just outside the borders of Gallup and buy them there.

“Literally people can go right outside the city and purchase these regulated devices,” City Attorney Dave Pederson said.
It’s still illegal to bring them back into town or fire them off within the city limits. The problem for the police and fire department is enforcement. The penalty for possession or use of regulated fireworks within the city is that all those illegal devices can be seized and destroyed. That’s it.

“It doesn’t have any meaningful penalty for violators,” Pederson said.

It’s not surprising then that people ignore the law, especially on the Fourth of July. This makes it almost impossible for police to enforce the law. Not only are violations widespread, it can be difficult to distinguish from legal and illegal fireworks without visiting every potential violator’s location and catch them firing off the devices.

“We don’t have enough policeman to rush from place to place where we think illegal fireworks are being fired,” Pederson said.

At some City Council meetings this past month, the city tossed around the idea of removing the ban, since there’s no way to enforce it. State law forbids the option of banning all fireworks, making it easier for police to spot violators.

“We don’t have the full authority to regulate this,” Pederson said.

Counties may allow firework sales from June 20 to July 6, six days before New Years, three days before the Chinese New Year, and on Cinco de Mayo. But there’s another exception. Any firework vendor whose sales are allegedly for tourists has an interstate commerce clause that allows them to sell year round. That’s why there are billboards for fireworks all along Interstate Highway 40.

“It’s a real miss-mash of regulations, and it becomes very confusing,” Pederson said.

Of course, there’s no way to ensure that all sales of those fireworks aren’t for any New Mexico residents.

“The idea that they are for Iowa tourists is facetious,” Pederson said.

The regulations are in part, Pederson said, due to the shrewd lobbying of the industry. Pederson also pointed out that the fireworks that are banned are not necessarily the ones that cause the most injuries or fires. Hand-held sparklers, which cannot be banned under state law, are easily dropped, especially when waved around as they are. Bottle rockets usually cool down before landing.

“The fire officials will tell you that most fires are caused by cones and even sparklers,” Pederson said.

For now, the city just has to ask the residents of Gallup to be careful when using any fireworks, legal or not. As Fire Chief Robert Soto said in a recent City Council meeting, the Gallup Fire Department responded to 180 calls last year that were sparked by fireworks.