Legal Fireworks: A Horse's Ass of a Law

When Benjamin Franklin famously remarked that the law is an ass, a reference to the donkey, he could not have imagined a future law in his adopted Pennsylvania that forbids fireworks sales to state residents but allows out-of-staters to by the explosives by the truckload.

A horse’s ass of a law, perhaps?

This incongruity comes into sharp focus every Independence Day as residents of New Jersey, which has an absolute ban on fireworks sales, transportation and use, stream into Pennsylvania to purchase firecrackers, Roman candles, M80s, cherry bombs and sparklers.

This year alone, New Jersey state police have confiscated nearly 8,000 pounds of fireworks ahead of Independence Day at Delaware River crossings with Pennsylvania, leading to 50 arrests.

More here.

Photograph byDith Pran/The New York Times