Continue fireworks coverage Newsday

Please keep this up! As I write this letter, at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, scratch bombs are being let off and they will, no doubt, continue to be let off intermittently until midnight or after.

The Attorney General and Minister Maxie Cuffie have warned against the use of scratch bombs and “illegal fireworks”. That is a welcome step - however, most people victimised by the indiscriminate use of fireworks want steps taken to restrict severely or eliminate the use of all fireworks.

In the article, it is reported that on December 14, Cuffie met with executives of FireOne Fireworks to discuss the Government’s crackdown on scratch bombs and the illegal use of fireworks. What have those issues to do with the executives of FireOne Fireworks, who claim, vociferously, that the fireworks they import are “legal” and of high standard? As far as eliminating the use of illegal fireworks, surely it makes more sense to get the police to confiscate them at the point of sale? Do they not have the power to approach those selling fireworks from every little stall and tent and require them to produce evidence that the goods were legally obtained, under the Explosives Act? Also, there is the question of the safe storage of fireworks (again referring to the Explosives Act). Can the police not move against improperly stored fireworks - legal or illegal? You only have to note the location of some of the fireworks tents and stalls, to see how easily a fire could spread from them to adjacent buildings. Can the fire services become involved in this issue? The Attorney General was quoted as saying, “the existing law is absolutely clear and the Commissioner of Police has the immediate ability to enforce it,” so let him do this, please.

Ann Whitt aker Port-of-Spain