The fireworks that people are setting off in their backyards across the country are getting intolerable. Air burst fireworks are illegal in Maryland and yet every single night if the weather is nice enough, even in the winter, you can hear them and see them. The fireworks go up into the air, make  the houses around them shake , and come down hot into people's yards damaging property, starting fires, and scaring animals and people. Pets panic and run, get hit by cars or are lost forever.  Birds abandon their nests, or are killed flying into buildings and windows,  and babies are left to starve. Other wild animals run in a panic and either can't find their way back to their babies or get run over by cars or die of heart attacks. Soldiers with PTSD suffer greatly, some committing suicide. Small babies are frightened, senior citizens with dementia are frightened, and people who work alternate shifts don't get enough sleep which makes them dangerous driving and dangerous at work. They start fires on people's property, their barns, their garage, their houses, and wildfires all across the country have been started by this stuff. They're not only on the 4th of July, they're all year and they're random and they're all illegal but no enforcement is being done. We have found the hot embers on top of our cars, on top of our house, burning through a pool cover,w as anyone with an inground pool knows, can go for about $3,500.

The argument for fireworks is that it's their right, that we should just medicate our dogs or move. You can't medicate all the wildlife, the horses, all the pets,and even if you could since you never know when they're going to go off it's impossible. And why should someone have to move because other people are doing illegal activity?

We need stronger legislation and enforcement because unfortunately now most Americans have no compassion for other people or animals and it's the " just me generation".  If you're lighting off non ground-based fireworks and the police find evidence. then you should be fined substantially. We need to have more police on duty during the holidays and they need to be patrolling so they can catch these people. We need to have all fireworks sales stopped in the US, every booth, every Walmart etc. Many people jump over the border and buy illegal fireworks in other states or at booths, many are selling the illegal things, that they buy overseas, out of the trunk of the car by the legal booths. The fire marshal and the police can't look in the trunk of the car without a warrant and they know this. Therefore if you know the right words they will sell you the illegal stuff which is all anybody really wants anyway. And because many of the booths are being used to cover up selling the illegal stuff they allnall to go.

I believe they're being allowed because it's extra tax revenue. Do you want to take a chance of losing a pet or your house to a fire or a family member due to PTSD so that somebody can use illegal fireworks near you?  When someone's house catches fire or they have to tell a family member that their animal ran and jumped through the window and got hit by a car, those people setting off the fireworks are not there to help, nor do they cover the cost of any damage they've done to the property.

It's time to make a stand. I for one am sick of people who think even though something's illegal they can just do it. It's not that big a deal. Well it is for many, I think the majority of people, so please sign this petition and we'll get it over the Governor Hogan. 

For those of you not in the state of Maryland, please start a petition like this for your Governor. Let's roll it out across the country. It's probably one of the best ways we can honor our service members who offered their lives for our freedom and are being ignored when harmed by these illegal fireworks.