MARK MY WORD: JULY FOURTH TURNS KIDS INTO URBAN TERRORISTS

It's that time of year again when those nice neighborhood kids turn into urban terrorists, shooting off bottle rockets and other fireworks.

The Revolutionary War was fought so that the Chinese would have a market for all their fireworks.

This nation has laws against running around with gunpowder and rockets, and blowing things up. Unless, of course, it is the Fourth of July holiday.

Fireworks are combinations of gunpowder and other ingredients like your grandmother's pancakes, which explode with loud noises and shoot out colorful sparks and flames.

Prosecutors call it arson, except when Americans blow up things in celebration of Independence Day or an NBA championship.

The World Book Encyclopedia warns, "Fireworks are dangerous because they contain gunpowder. They should be handled only by experts."

In Missouri, a fireworks expert is a young kid with an empty Coke bottle.

In no time at all, your quiet neighborhood is crawling with these urban terrorists who seemingly have billions of bottle rockets at their ready.

According to the World Book, fireworks rockets, also called skyrockets, operate on a principle similar to that used in large military rockets.

Isn't it reassuring to know that junior is out there playing with weapons?

In addition to burning down homes in festive celebration, fireworks have serious uses such as getting rid of mosquitoes and stopping nose bleeds.

Railroads use giant firecrackers called torpedoes, which explode while the train is passing over them to warn engineers of danger ahead.

This gets the engineers' undivided attention, particularly since the train's derailed.

But fireworks are most closely identified with Independence Day.

On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress declared the American colonies free and independent states. But it took the delegates two days to agree where to set up their fireworks stands.

On July 4, the Declaration of Independence was issued, which stipulated that bottle rockets would be sold by the zillions.

The nation's founders considered July Fourth an important holiday.

John Adams said, "It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more."

In the early days, kids had more than fireworks to shoot.

Fireworks and the firing of guns and cannons caused hundreds of deaths each year.

Cannons were more costly than fireworks, but neighborhood kids could destroy whole towns that way.

It wasn't long before city leaders all across America figured out that it was dangerous to let kids stand on street corners and fire cannons at each other.

Many American cities have outlawed the big bang from their Fourth of July festivities.

Today, many Americans can only use fireworks for riots and celebration of sports championships.

And, to think, we owe it all to our nation's founders.

~Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.