Ohio to end fireworks 'liar's law' form after 2015

As fireworks use ramps up this week, this year's Independence Day will be the last one in which Ohio fireworks buyers will have to sign a form that gives the infamous "liar's law" its name.

The "liar's law" refers to a specific requirement in Ohio statutes for any purchasers of consumer fireworks, other than "novelty" items, to sign an agreement promising to take the products out of state within 48 hours.

Typically, Ohio fireworks buyers sign the paper and still use the products in state, but the law generally isn't strictly enforced around the July 4th holiday, said Bill Weimer, vice president of Phantom Fireworks.

The law will continue to require purchasers to take the fireworks out of state, but the recently passed Ohio budget bill removed the "liar's law" form from the process.

"Have we now made them quasi-legal in Ohio? I don't know," Weimer said.

Among the exempted fireworks products, which Ohio law allows people to use in the state, are those labeled "novelty" items, including sparklers, party poppers, snakes, snaps and small smoke devices.

So what does that leave illegal in Ohio? Everything else.

"All of them," Weimer said. "All the rest of the consumer fireworks, from the fountains, to fire crackers, to the aerial items, rockets, Roman candles, shells that go up and give you your burst of color and noise ..."

Last December, a bill set to remove some of those fireworks restrictions failed to make it out of the state's House of Representatives.

But Weimer said he still thinks it's only a matter of time for Ohio, referencing how 43 other states allow the consumer grade fireworks.

"Ohio is one of the last vestiges of this kind of a law," he said.

Ohio is one of only four states that allows only "novelty" fireworks — Illinois, Iowa and Vermont are the others. Delaware, Massachusetts and New Jersey are the only states that ban all fireworks, including novelties.

Meanwhile, as more states legalize consumer fireworks and consumer use goes up, the number of related injuries is actually going down.

Weimer said from 1994 to 2014, the amount of fireworks products sold has almost doubled, going from 117 million pounds to 225.3 million pounds, according to U.S. imports data.

During that same period, the total number of fireworks-related injuries reported by the Consumer Products Safety Commission has dropped 16 percent.

"That's no mumbo jumbo percentage," Weimer said. "That's the actual number of injuries."

And while Weimer said the fireworks industry is proud of the statistics, the cardinal rule is still safety. At all of his Phantom Firework's stores, workers staple rules and regulations to customers' receipts and preach common sense.

"There's no such thing as a good fireworks experience unless it's a safe fireworks experience," Weimer said.

jstinchcom@gannett.com

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