NOREEN: Let's lay off the fireworks

Ladies and gentlemen, lets take this opportunity to recognize that the Second Amendment does not guarantee the right to keep and bear fireworks.

We love our freedoms here, but the community doesnt have much of an appetite for the rockets' red glare just now. In the Pikes Peak region weve seen plenty of the wrong kind of fireworks in the past week.

The private use of fireworks has been banned across Colorado. In Colorado Springs, City Hall banned public fireworks displays and enacted a zero tolerance policy for anyone caught setting off fireworks.

That means in cases in which someone might have received a warning in the past, they will now receive a municipal court summons. As the Colorado Springs Police Department reminded us a few days ago, a conviction for such a violation may carry a fine of up to $500 and

or 90 days in jail.

If property damage or injury occurs as a result of such a violation the perpetrator may be charged with the Colorado State statute of arson.

The cause of the Waldo Canyon Fire still is being investigated, but in the week before it started, law enforcement officials in Park and Teller counties were trying to find a serial arsonist who had set little fires near Lake George, Divide and Woodland Park.

The landscape is so dry that the smallest fire can become a big one. Youd have to be crazy or stupid to play with fireworks now.

So of course we can assume some people still will do it.

It seems crazy, but even though the use of fireworks has been banned, there are still fireworks stands in unincorporated Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas and Jefferson counties. If its illegal to use them anywhere in the state, why would we allow them to be sold?

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NOREEN: Let's lay off the fireworks