Fireworks/guns
In my state I can’t buy fireworks. Cos it’s illegal.
But, if I want to, I can by a shotgun or a hunting rifle without getting fingerprinted and licensed.
My friends who do buy fireworks for 4 July head across the state line to Pennsylvania and Virginia (yes, it’s just like the Dukes of Hazzard, but there is no Boss Hogg and Rosco P Coltrane chasing you) and illegally transport them over the state line. Oooer.
So, why are fireworks banned in Maryland? The local paper says that ‘Over the years, mishaps involving fireworks have caused so many problems that the use of fireworks in Maryland is strictly regulated. While there are probably those who may consider laws governing the sale and use of fireworks to be a bit excessive, those laws are clearly intended to protect you (sometimes even from yourself!) and those around you.’
Anyway, firework and gun laws differ in all the other states too. Like, in Arkansas (I still have to make sure I pronounce that like ‘saw’ as the end and not ‘sass’ š ) you can openly carry a firearm in public, although there is debate about whether this should continue.
That would totally freak me out if I was walking along the street….
The whole thing with the different state laws still fascinates me. Like, when we go to New Orleans we’ll be able to walk along the streets with our drinks in our hands. But, here in far more conservative Maryland, even if we buy a bottle of wine from a liquor store, it has to be concealed in a brown paper bag.
And let’s not start on the amount of vodka that is concealed in soda bottles across the community pools here in Columbia…. š
ukdesperatehousewifeusa 
Interesting fact about the fireworks! Isn’t it fascinating how each state can be so different? I studied abroad in Pennsylvania for year, and was shocked when I discovered I couldn’t buy a bottle of wine at the supermarket, but had to go to a state-regulated liquor store! Yet in New Jersey, where my fiance lives, you can get wine and beer from the American equivalent of a corner shop… the ex-pat experience is always an interesting one š
It sure is Katie!
Oddest thing ever: In Utah you may not consume alcohol in a bar unless you are sitting down. When the bar does not have enough seats, people switch places and the bartender will give you your drink back. (They keep it behind out of reach if you’re standing).
In South Carolina, spirits are only sold by the bottle, not by the glass or shot. So if you order a rum and coke, you get a glass of coke and a tiny airplane bottle of rum.
We are a weird nation.
Wowsers. Weird indeed!
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The inaction on addressing issues on a federal level is causing the states to address these public issues separately. The US is a very divided country so visiting each state is now like visiting a different country. Sometimes if seems as if we have no federal government which ties us together as a country.
Someone said the other day it was more like Europe, just with a love of fast good chains š
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HA HA! š
And yet, we are supposedly the “United” States of America!
Back in the 1790’s and early 1800’s states had far more say so than now. The 10th amendment (states rights) is nearly dead.
The Constitution is very clear on what the Federal government is supposed to do — national defence, foreign affairs, foreign trade, and some inter-state activity. The rest is up to the states. Ref Article 12 of the Bill of Rights – “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.’ So, education, liquour laws, driver licenses, for example, are up to the states.
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