Bob CollinsYou asked for it, Wisconsin. You with your “we’re open for business signs” on the state border, aimed at our businesses and all.
Several Minnesota Republican lawmakers today filed a bill in the House of Representatives to make fireworks legal in Minnesota, a market currently pretty much owned by businesses in Wisconsin, where the sale of fireworks is legal.
The bill would change the definition of fireworks to that used by the American Pyrotechnic Association. When Minnesota allowed the sale of “fireworks” starting in 2002, it limited the definition to sparklers and a few “pop” toys that were little more than cute. Things that shot into the air? Not in our state, at least not legally in our state.
But Minnesotans, as evidenced by the license plates in the stores in Wisconsin, want the big artillery.
If approved, this certainly serves as a shot across Wisconsin’s bow. In Wisconsin, residents aren’t allowed to purchase fireworks without a permit, even though they can be sold to residents from Minnesota and other states without one.
Wisconsinites would have to come to Minnesota to get them.
