A few days ago, I published a podcast about whether or not the sale of fireworks should be banned to members of the general public. In the podcast itself I spoke about how fireworks are becoming a threat because of anti-social behaviour, as well as the effect they have on people’s pets. In the podcast I turned the question towards my audience and wanted to know what they thought. I was lucky enough to get some responses.

Most of the comments that I got agreed with the fact that fireworks do present a danger and should be restricted in some way. Whether it be a times when they can be set off or a license you may need to buy them in the first place. In the podcast itself, one of the people I interviewed, Mitch, thought of the idea that you should need a license to purchase fireworks. Listeners Sam and Oliver both agreed with this idea. Oliver said that he “liked the idea of needing a license, this could potentially limit the amount sold”.  The fact is that fireworks can be used as weapons and in the wrong hands, like we saw in Leeds, Sheffield and Bradford last bonfire night, they are incredibly dangerous. If you need a license for a gun, then perhaps you should require the same level of qualification for fireworks. It’s not a policeman’s job to deal with exploding projectiles being launched at them.

The main concern for a lot of my listeners was the effect that fireworks had on their pets. Annie put it perfectly in her comment saying, “animals shouldn’t be put to this much anxiety just for the entertainment of us humans”. Nowadays you never know when someone is going to launch some fireworks so it’s hard to prepare your pet for when fireworks are set off. Oscar said in his comment that even after 8 years his dog shivers and shakes whenever fireworks are set off.

No one called for an outright ban which I found interesting because the base for this podcast was the petition that called for fireworks to be totally banned to members of the public. This view id the one that has gained the most traction online. When doing my research no one that I had seen had the idea of a license, so I find it interesting that people who commented had gravitated towards a somewhat “middle ground” idea.

Big thanks to anyone who commented and I’m glad that you enjoyed it.

- Louis Edwards