I thought fireworks were illegal in new york?

So they are. But New Hampshire, Rhode Island arent that far away from New York. Every year one of my cousin drives up to Rhode Island to get like $600 or $700 worth of fireworks. It's a tradition. He always hosts the 4th of July bbq, and at night he always does like at least half hour to 45 min long worth of fireworks. But there is a reason they are illegal in New York.

Last Year, one of the flames from the fireworks my cousin did, fell on a car and burnt away the paint. Another flame landed on the tent in the backyard and caused a mini fire. Besides the fire hazord, after the fireworks a big mess is always left behind. Last year, a neighbor retired cop complained about how much of a mess his yard had become and how all the other neighbors shouldnt be responsible to clean up the mess after our celebration. My cousin didn't do anything this year, but all my neighbors did. At both ends of my block people were doing firworks. One of them even had guns, into which he loaded the firworks and shot them at all angles. Sometimes, the flames would go towards other peoples houses and luckily the flame went out before it hit anything.

I think its a great thing how people celebrate America's Independence and what better way to do it than firworks that express the joy and happiness that we can live with today, because of our Declaration of Independence. However, I think its just a ritual that can go so wrong especially in compact street areas with wires on top and cars and houses so close by.