Jack,
Those were my thoughts exactly as I lay in bed last night listening to the mortar bombs going off on my block. The prohibition is unenforceable and ridiculous.

I'd rather see people rethink their need/attachment to such ridiculous and dangerous fireworks. Sparklers do enough for me. There's a reason that fireworks that project flames through the air are illegal:

http://pdxtraffic.blogspot.com/2011/07/updated-with-fire-cause-portland-fire.html

Sorry Sarah, but that's going to happen regardless the legality of the purchase. Beer is legal, driving while intoxicated is still illegal. The same distinction could be applied to fireworks. Mortars legal, improper use illegal. Oregon could use the tax revenue for whatever it wishes, like the state troopers it claims it cannot fund.

Sarah, model rockets use flames to fly through the air too, and they are legal.

A while ago I decided that Oregon's prohibition on decent fireworks is a valuable a civics lesson. What better way to teach kids to be skeptical of government authority that to publicly repudiate some aspect of it in spectacular fashion?

Even better that the cause of our current public lawbreaking is to commemorate a revolution against tyrannical government.

I remember the first time I watched the 4th of July from a friend's house in the West Hills. You could see the entire Eastside from his deck. Over a period of hours, across every identifiable neighborhood, we watched small (but illegal) firework shows emanating from a thousand backyards.

From that perspective it had a pattern and quasi-random cadence that reminded me of soup bubbling in a large pot. Like little government rebellions in every neighborhood.

This year I was at a neighborhood party in the burbs. Two of us were taking turns lighting fireworks for a troop of kids. We had a couple giant bags of the sparkly-smoky-stinkers that most schmucks buy at Costco. Meanwhile, a display of Shock and Awe was going off about three blocks away.

As you might expect, one of the kids asked why we (the adults) didn't have any real fireworks. I started to explain that the real ones are illegal in Oregon, but that just led to more questions:

Why are they illegal, and (more importantly) why is everyone breaking the law?

I wanted to give the same answer to each question ("sometimes the law is an ass") but figured it wasn't my place, so I told him to ask his parents.

Most people figure that out eventually, but if they learn it without some alternate moral grounding bad choices will ensue.

Maybe next year I'll make the drive to Vancouver. Might be fun to be the "neighborhood outlaw" once a year.

At least the way it works more, people in Portland can easily run up to Vancouver to get the fireworks they want, while those in areas more prone to fire danger farther away can't quite so easily. And Californians can't come up here for illegal-there fireworks.

Jack, I'd like to know your definition of "ending earlier." In my Roseway neighborhood, after I had finally more or less fallen asleep, there was one last burst around 1:45 a.m. that woke me up. On the other hand, seems like the dog doesn't mind fireworks - don't think she even stirred.

And this might be a reason why those illegal incendiary devices stay illegal:

http://www.kgw.com/news/Fireworks-start-fire-at-NE-Portland-business-125005554.html

It's not so good for some businesses.

As the first commenter here mentioned, "The prohibition is unenforceable and ridiculous."

That could apply to other prohibitions as well. Once the fireworks issue dies down until next July, perhaps we can turn our attention to year-round prohibitions that do more harm than good.