Actually you can’t legally buy a firecracker that will do any real damage today. As a boy, I usually scored a few cherry bombs and M-80’s, the latter of which would definitely remove digits under the right circumstances. Nothing remotely that large available now.
“The ones (Firecrackers) out there today are much more powerful. “
You can’t be talking about the stuff that was available in the 60’s.
Nah, just enjoy having fun. Just because you don't enjoy something, doesn't mean there's something wrong with those who do -- unless, of course, you're a liberal.
The whole point of my comment is this: The story headline is misleading, it is designed to make people react they way you have, that is condemning fireworks. THIS WAS NOT A FIREWORK. It was a piece of ordinance from the military and should have been turned into the proper authorities.
The word fireworks should not even be used in this article, it is simply a liberal hit piece supporting the liberal talking point that people shouldn't have fireworks or firearms either since they are too stupid to use them properly.
This person did not go down to his neighborhood fireworks stand and buy this explosive device even though the headline and most of the article imply that he did.
Oh Yeah? Well I'm rubber, you're glue - what you say bounces off me and sticks to you!
Nothing sold legally today comes even close to the firepower of the M-80s, Cherry Bombs, Silver Salutes, etc. sold before 1966.
From an article at Bob Weaver’s FireworksLand.com site...
http://fireworksland.com/html/m80.html
Excerpts:
There is endless confusion over the terms “M-80” and “Cherry Bomb” in the United States. I recently heard from a high school principal in Illinois about two students that were caught in his school with “M-88” and “M-90” firecrackers, but they were the legal kind sold in fireworks stores. The local law enforcement was trying to tell the principal that these were more powerful than M-80s, which is not true. The “M-88” and “M-90” firecrackers sold in stores are ordinary, legal, 50 mg. firecrackers, with only 1/50th of the amount of powder in them that a true M-80 has in it.
I also read or hear about statements comparing an M-80 to a “quarter stick of dynamite” or similar exaggerations. Wrong. To begin with, a “quarter stick” of dynamite has 35 grams of pyrotechnic content, while a true M-80 has just under 3 grams. So even if they had a same chemical composition, an M-80 would have less than 10% of the power of a quarter stick of dynamite. But the composition in dynamite (which varies widely) is a high explosive, while the chemical composition in an M-80 (so-called “flash powder”) is a low explosive, at least from a scientific standpoint. So really there is no legitimate way to compare an M-80 with a quarter stick of dynamite.
::::::::::::::::::
Real “M-80s” and real “cherry bombs” are illegal in the United States. They have been illegal in the U.S. since the year 1966. The reason they are illegal is because the U.S. Congress passed a law in 1966, called the “Child Protection Act” which specifically made them illegal. It is illegal to sell, possess or use them anywhere within the United States jurisdiction.
::::::::::::::::::
A true, bonafide M-80 is a firecracker designed for military use as a “gunfire simulator.” One specification calls for a tube that is 1.5 inches long, 9/16th of an inch in diameter, with a fuse coming out the side rather than the end, and containing 45 grains of a specific pyrotechnic composition. (A “grain” is a unit of weight measurement equal to 64.799 milligrams.) So a true M-80 contains about 2,916 milligrams, or just under 3 grams of a specific type of pyrotechnic composition.
::::::::::::::::::
A true Cherry Bomb is a relatively spherical firecracker, typically 3/4 inch in diameter, with an outer coating of sawdust bound with sodium silicate and dyed red. These are not as powerful as a true M-80. Both M-80s and “Cherry Bombs” are illegal in the United States, so don’t buy them even if you encounter them.
Up until 1966, large firecrackers such as M-80s and cherry bombs were legal in the United States, and anyone could buy them and shoot them off. If you look through old fireworks catalogs from the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s, you will see these and even larger firecrackers advertised, all of them perfectly legal at that time. But it all ended in 1966. The Child Protection Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1966, specifically banned these devices. In 1976, the federal regulations were rewritten specifying a limit of 50 milligrams of pyrotechnic composition for any firecracker sold to the public in the United States, and that limit is still in effect today. It doesn’t matter what they look like or what they are shaped like - ground firecrackers can only contain 50 milligrams of pyrotechnic content per cracker. (Aerial “reports,” which are contained within aerial devices such as rockets and shells, can contain up to 129.6 milligrams of composition per report.)
The legitimate fireworks market today includes some “novelty” firecrackers called “M-60”, “M-70”, “M-88”, “M-90” and so on. These are not M-80s, they are regular 50 milligram firecrackers made to look like M-80s or “Silver Salutes,” another old type of firecracker now banned. These novelty firecrackers are legal to sell to the public, in states that allow firecrackers, because they contain no more than 50 milligrams of pyrotechnic content. They are nowhere near as powerful as a true M-80 or a true cherry bomb. The names used for these (”M-60”, “M-70”, “M-88”, “M-90” and so on) are basically meaningless marketing gimmicks.
::::::::::::::::::
It is unfair to the legitimate fireworks industry that statistics on injuries caused by these illegal, banned devices are often lumped in together with statistics on injuries related to legal fireworks, thus making legitimate, legal fireworks seem far more dangerous than they actually are. This is a tactic used by anti-fireworks activists in an attempt to influence public laws and regulations over legal fireworks. It is nothing for them to make an argument against the sales of fireworks to the public by quoting injury statistics that include injuries for illegal devices as well. Typically when quoting such statistics, they do not make the distinction between legal and illegal devices or bother to separate out the injury rates for illegal ones from legal ones, because that would greatly weaken their argument against allowing legal fireworks to be sold.