Governor Cuomo vetoes bill to legalize sparkers

Governor Cuomo has vetoed the bill that would make it legal to buy and hold a sparkler in your hand in New York State.

The deadline for Governor Cuomo to sign the bill into law was today. He vetoed that bill late this afternoon.

The proposal was approved by the state legislature at the end of last year’s session and it’s not just about allowing people some leeway to celebrate the 4th, it’s also about putting millions in sales tax revenue into the state treasury.

New York is one of only four states that ban fireworks entirely.

Assemblyman Joe Morelle was the bill’s co-sponsor. “It’s sort of a fiction to suggest that people don’t have access to them. You just can’t buy them in New York. So, the second point is if you’re going to be selling things like this and New Yorkers are going to be buying them, and they truly are safe, then why shouldn’t New York retailers be able to sell them? And why should we force people to go to Pennsylvania and North Carolina to buy sparklers.”

Of the nearly 9,000 fireworks injuries nationwide each year, about 1,200 are from sparklers. Morelle said, “What I’ve said is look, the truth is my gas stove at home is pretty hot too and if you’re a four-year-old and put your hand on a hot stove, you’re going to get burned. I mean, at some point there needs to be parental supervision.”

But the state fireman’s association and other groups oppose legalizing the sale of sparklers.

“The sale of sparklers and related low-grade fire works is going to going to get into the wrong hands, the younger children.” Dave Widera is president of the MonroeCounty Firechiefs Association. “We don’t want to see young kids get hurt, either burned or killed in fires. The sparklers burn at a very high temperatures, approximately 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit and that’ll start a fire quickly.”

Hospital emergency rooms see the bulk of those injuries from fireworks around the 4th of July and in an earlier story News 10NBC did this past summer — a pediatric emergency room doctor at Strong Hospital said the majority of the fireworks injury cases they see are actually are from sparklers.

If sparklers were legal in New York — Assemblyman Morelle estimates sales could be as much as $50-million a year and the state alone would rake in at least $2-million in sales taxes. The Fireman’s Association says that’s not worth the possible injuries.

For more Rochester, N.Y. news go to our website www.whec.com.