This blog post was published April 28, 2016.
A year after Georgia legalized the use of most kinds of fireworks, the state adopted a law that would restrict when and where they could be used.
Responding to angry complaints from residents jolted awake by sparkly explosions on mundane weekdays, Gov. Nathan Deal signed legislation this week that bans residents from setting off fireworks after 9 p.m. most of the year. (Local governments can pass ordinances to extend those limits.)
It carves out exceptions to allow the use of fireworks until 1 a.m. on New Year's and midnight on Fourth of July. The measure, House Bill 727, also bans people from igniting fireworks on roads and highways and within 100 yards of a hospital, nursing home and prisons. It took effect immediately.
Under the previous law passed in 2015, Georgians could explode fireworks until midnight through most of the year and until 2 a.m. on those two holidays. That law for the first time made it legal to sell, buy and possess fireworks such as firecrackers, Roman candles, bottle rockets and mortars.
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