When there were fireworks on the Fourth

On July 4 you can celebrate in lots of ways, but you can't shoot off fireworks. That prohibition came to a head on June 30, 1943, when John N. Gontrum, state insurance commissioner, issued a stern notice: ``The use of all kinds of fireworks is prohibited under terms of a law enacted by the state legislature in 1941 and enforced for the first time last year. And no section of the state is exempt. The law prohibits use of fireworks except for a public display in cases where a permit has been issued.''

The commissioner had reason to be stern. Until 1941, shooting off fireworks on one's porch (front or back) or lawn in Baltimore was thought to be a sacred right. But over the years and with ample reason, the public had grown less tolerant of fireworks, especially in the hands of children. There had been loose regulatory ordinances in Baltimore for many years; the city had attempted to get at the problem circuitously, by prohibiting the storage of fireworks, or by limiting usage to sparklers, but the ordinances were ineffective. In 1941 the state legislature, under public pressure, outlawed all fireworks statewide.

Before that prohibition, on every Fourth of July as dusk approached, every neighborhood was suddenly a fireworks display -- house by house, lawn by lawn. Every kid knew the names: firecrackers, sparklers, rockets, Roman candles, torpedoes, grenades, signal lights, snakes, pinwheels, spinners, devil chasers. All were to be had for the asking at the corner grocery store.

Come dark -- POW! Everything would go off in sudden and sporadic outbursts of noise and lights and cheers. A tin can flew 20 feet in the air, launched by a firecracker set off by a 5-year-old.

Every year, the next day, the newspapers would carry the tragic story of people who had been injured -- burned and blinded -- by fireworks. Community groups that wanted fireworks banned had to confront the powerful fireworks industry, which sought to have the ban rescinded through referendum in the 1942 general election. The courts found irregularities in the procedure, called off the referendum and declared the state's fireworks ban in order.

So if you want to celebrate July 4, you can watch fireworks, go to the ball game, have a cookout, march in a parade.

But don't try shooting off fireworks.