I've been reading around the forum today and was just curious if anyone has ever fought a fireworks ticket and won?

I ask because my dad got a ticket for fireworks discharge/possession because somebody threw a small pack of firecrackers in the back seat of our buggy.

Just asking for some input.

My buddy got one on New Years the BLM ranger said it was a $75.00 but they were total Jackazz's about it. They came into camp like we stole something then demanded we tell them who did it. There were about 20 of us sitting around the fire and no one spoke up. Then the rager says "fine then everyone gets a ticket get out your ID's" and his partner says "we'll check every buggy & bike in camp then" talk about flexing the badge. It was a bottle rocket in the middle of the desert not a crime worthy of CSI. So a one of our buddy's said he did it (even though he didn't) and they were happy to write him a ticket and rush off to stop the other 10,000 people tring to have fun.

you wanna play you gotta pay... the law is the law and your group took a chance and got caught. why didn't the guy who actually shot it off "man up" and take the ticket?

He shot a bottle rocket! We weren't collectively taking a chance.

The guy that shot it was in his trailer getting more by the time his wife went and got him and got back the rangers were writing the ticket (we had a huge camp). I agree with you the law is the law but come on fireworks on New Years, were you not in Glamis? What happened to the "letter of the law" & the "spirit of the law"? Besides the violation was an infraction and neither of the Rangers actually saw any of us light it. They could have given a warning and it would have done the same thing as the ticket but we would have had a little more respect for them. My gripe is more about the conduct of the Rangers than the $$ for the ticket. Threatening us with tickets unless someone confessed seems out of line to me.

I know the Rangers have a thankless job to do and that they deal with a lot of Azz hats out there but threatening to cite 20+ people for an infraction and then threatening to check all the registrations in camp unless we ratted out the "firework bandit" is a little out of line. I value my liberty and freedom & too often law enforcement stretch the law in the wrong direction. After all the law is in place to protect us not conform us.

Oh and I almost forgot they also threatened to write everyone who had a can on the ground next to there chair a littering ticket. The can that they were drinking out of not trash! They said "once its on the ground it's littering".

The can on the ground thing sux.

Problem Solved...




******Caution********

If your ever in Pipe's camp and are sitting in a chair that you THINK has beer holders - double check cause you could end up finding yer beverage on the ground... Just saying is all...

my friend was there over new years and the ticket was $75.00

Your not going to stop these gluteous maximushats unless you take said ticket to the court and demand a jury trail! Ya even for that.
Then have your Witness' say exactly that, in open court, "That we would all get one unless the one fessed up." Hint, the court proceeding will never get that far.
However to make it easier for you guys, The one who received said ticket tell the judge/court "That our group was under duress and threat of illegal search and seizure". :idea:

First off, the ranger/deputy was wrong to imply that they could write everybody if somebody doesn't fess up. If nobody said a word, nobody could have been written a legitimate ticket. Saying they were going to go thru your camp with a "fine tooth comb" is totally legal. You won't have anything to worry about if you're on the up and up. They can't go inside your trailers, RV's, etc without your consent.

That being said, most people I work with would agree that fireworks do not fall under the "spirit of the law/letter of the law" argument. They are illegal...period. Everybody knows it when they buy them. Everybody knows it when they shoot them off. Like somebody else said, when you get caught the best thing to do is man up and take your ticket.

You say fireworks are no big deal and 98% of desert folks would agree. Our group (not me....I'm too cheap to buy the good ones outside Vegas)) launches them as well. However, I had a friend in high school get a couple fingers blown off, a skyrocket also caught my parents shake roof on fire one time as well. Just last year at Ocotillo Wells, our group was lighting skyrockets and somebody accidentially kicked the bottle over. The rocket went about 100 Yards over and blew up in somebody elses camp. Bottom line....bad things CAN happen with fireworks.

By the way, where do you think the skyrocket remnants end up? On the ground...as LITTER. Basically, the #2 complaint I see on this board....after the overzealous cop threads.

Wrong....most of these citations are issued as infractions specifically so they they don't have to offer a jury trial. It would be a monumental waste of time and money to seat a jury for something so trivial.

If the ranger/deputy testifies that he saw a firework from said camp and Defendant X said he did it, *most* judges will find the guy guilty...especially on an infraction charge where ther will be no permanent record.

Ya! What they all said^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I heard all the big places to ride are getting strict on fireworks.My buddies just came back from Dumont saying the same thing someone in camp shot them off and a couple minutes later here comes the LEOs.

Very well said........Are people so selfish that they have to break the law in order to satisfy their own personal pleasures?????? Things change. There are hundreds of things that we did as kids that are no longer permissible or legal, including: riding double in the dunes, dumping our grey water in the sand, and shooting off fireworks, etc..........

"I heard all the big places to ride are getting strict on fireworks.My buddies just came back from Dumont saying the same thing someone in camp shot them off and a couple minutes later here comes the LEOs. "


Ah yes. ANOTHER reason I moved to Texas. Legal fireworks and not getting a lecture and a ticket after I fire one off. I think instead of making the trip next year to CA to spend my hard earned money and put up with BS from LEO I'll try out Little Sahara instead. Half the travel and I don't have to pay an additional $200 for registration (for one trip) for the "privilage" of riding there.

I totally agree with the ticket there is no question that when you light a firework your breaking the law. He'll pay the $75.00 and that'll be the end of it.

As far as Fireworks being dangerous you are right. Bad things can and will happen as a result of lighting fireworks. Bad things happen all the time, I fell off a ladder and almost broke my back, my buddy has a brother who fell off a ladder and died and just yesterday a friend slipped and slid down a ladder cutting his leg and requiring stitches. There are many cases of ladders falling off trucks and causing property damage and I know of at least one motorcyclist killed from a fallen ladder on the road. Should ladders be illegal? If someone is careless they or someone around them are going to get hurt. Whats next? ATV's? Far more people are getting hurt and killed from riding ATV's than ever did from fireworks in California. Fireworks are illegal in California because a few Politicians thought they were saving us from ourselves. I guess that topic can be an entire thread of its own.

We and everyone else were just having some fun, we'll pay the price and life will go on. The Rangers should lighten up and remember they are people just like us.

BWT I haven't put enough thought into the trash part from the fireworks until just now (we only ever do it on New Years). I'll admit that there is no way we could collect the trash left over. With that said hold off on the we are a very conscientious group and we always pick up any trash we see in the dunes regardless of who it belongs to. Based on the trash aspect alone we wont be shooting fireworks from our camp and I guess we owe the dunes a little extra clean up for our actions.

fireworks are cool to watch, asshats whos fall out lands on my coach roof or in my camp is not cool. Funny how the firework lighters seem to always be able to aim the projectile at an angle so as not to land on their camp.
I am very happy that they are banging the firework lighters around the campsites..go out and away from everyone if you want to light them off. And as a bonus you'll more likely not get a ranger visit.

Best answer yet.

Either you get the rules changed by setting "precidence", or you can go all "Claude Dallas" on them. (Google him if you don't already know)
But nothing changes, and things actually get worse, when you let it slide and put up with it.

BTW - You do NOT have to "fess up" to ANY infraction of the "law".
AND by trying to FORCE you to do that, they were actually guilty of a worse offense.
And that applies to ALL parts of the US, and has since about 1790's.

SOME of you guys SEEM too willing to accept the overregulation and storm trooper tactics.
It does noone any good to allow that to continue.

And just as local businesses found when riders on "The Dragon" were over policed by TN Highway Patrol,
the businesses around the dunes will be the ones to suffer in the long run for the actions of a few big headed "cops".

Regarding the "STORM TROOPER" tactics.
Cement flats between xmas and new years fire works were being enjoyed in our camp.
The Rangers were spotted and a gentlemen yelled out "ranger alert, ranger alert".
The rangers still achieved surprise to the fireworks launcher who was ticketed and had his remaining supplies confiscated.
The rangers disappeared.
Only thing was, they didn't leave. They were hiding in the dark. They heard our conversation and learned the name of the caller of the alert.
They, 3 rangers, stormed into camp again asking for the caller by name.
After getting no assistance the threats started. We will look into registration on every vehicle here, etc.
The caller stepped forward and led the rangers to his RV to get his ID.
This is where it gets good so bare with me.
Arguing ensued over what, if any, laws were broken by the ranger alert call.
A third party got involved and was threatened with immediate arrest if he didn't leave without delay. He walked away pissed. Rangers noticed where he went as evidenced by the next days events.
Rangers got focus back on caller and noticed glass bottle near step of RV and determined they would cite the caller for glass. The caller claimed he had found the glass and brought it back for disposal. Wife of caller thought she was being sly and took the bottle inside and dumped the contents down the drain. Rangers were pissed over missing evidence. Caller was upset cause wife dumped bottle full of gas down drain of RV.
Score at this point - Rangers 2 (citations) - Happy campers 0
Next day the rangers roll into camp forst thing in the morning in a sxs and drive straight up to the the third party they had words with the night before.
3rd party is interrogated about his registration on his funco buggy. Rangers notice glass bottle near step of his RV and state they will cite him. 3rd party picks up bottle and takes it inside RV. Arguing ensues and now the rangers want to enter the RV.
While 3rd party gets ticket for glass, I drive to other side of camp in my wifes RZR. You guessed it, the rangers came over to inspect the RZR registration.
End result - rangers 3 (citations) - Happy campers 1 (camper that interfaced with these goons and didn't get cited)

Amper
PS: the rangers had a night vision monocular, similar to what big 5 sells, and were using it to find the fireworks shooters that were shooting from outside their camps.

These guys got tickets for fireworks...and basically DGAF...

I would have outted the guy that shot it off immediately....UNLESS i was in on it too.

being under the gun like that, and not giving KNOWN information to the PO PO when they ask you for it is GANG MEMBER mentality

I didnt know we had people on this board that had the mental thoughts of gang members

jesus...about 132 violations there...starting a fire with gas being one of them

its people like that who give legit duners the LOSER badge

FYI, Californai originally banned fireworks, due to the fire threat.

In the desert, the littering is the issue in my minds. I have never seen anyone walking around camps picking this trash up after a night of lighting them off, Bottle rocket sticks everywhere.

you know what is worse...the effin smokers who throw their goddamn cigarette butts in the sand and leave them there..

WTF smokers??? i didnt know the world was your effin ashtray

We got caught by BLM lighting off fireworks in the washes on Halloween. They were pretty cool about it. We were honest with them and they took our stash of fireworks, no ticket. Now we just load up the fireworks in the rail and shoot them off in the dunes were the BLM pick-up trucks can't go.

On New Years we set some off at camp, but we just watched the BLM trucks really closely. They just sit there with their lights off until they see a christmas tree fire or fireworks and off they go. They light someone up and when they are done they just sit there with their lights off again. We would just wait until you see them take off on a call and then light the fireworks.

Christmas trees are illegal??

Yepper, we saw our neighbors on New Years get the ticket.

Another good way to avoid a ticket is to attach the fireworks to your helmet and ride around on your quad. It makes ticketing much more difficult for BLM.

Now that looks like fun......

christmas trees?
is that new?
or did they tie it to some other ambiguous rule?
I've never heard of anyone getting a ticket for that in the past 20 years?

Not sure of the exact ticket. We spoke to some guys from the camp that got the ticket and the rangers just rolled in after tossing 5 christmas trees on the fire. The rangers told them that they were going to ticket everyone in camp or one person could own up to it and they would just give that person the ticket. The only published rule that I think they could get them on is the one I quoted below from the BLM rules page.

"FIRES The burning of potentially hazardous materials e.g.(but not limited to) gas, oil, plastic and magnesium is prohibited."

surprised they don't write campfire permit tickets.
everybody does have their free campfire permit, correct ?

I added a fireworks ticket to my collection this President's Day. So far I'm up to 3. The first 2 were at the same time so I'm not sure if I count them as 1 or 2. I made the mistake of leaving the license plate for my daughters 80 in the toyhauler while I was sitting on it teaching the neighbor's daughter what a throttle and brake were. BLM wrote me for no registration and no helmet. The quad was running and we had moved about 5 feet. He said that he had to write the tickets because his supervisor was watching. Can someone say revenue generation?

The fireworks ticket was mine. I deserved it. I found some of those old killer fricken mortars in New Mexico. You know the really big ones like you see at the amusement parks? You know; the kind that go THUMP then BOOM! It was worth it. The kids loved it and my wife was pissed. What more could you ask for. The only thing missing was my glass bottle of Bud Light. Oh yeah... the ticket is $125 not $75. They of course said that it was a littering issue and not a fire issue. I love the dunes.

I glad their enforcing the fireworks issue. The roof of my trailer had $400 in damage from smoldering embers from the mortar style fireworks that jackholes in the next camp where lighting off.

Wasn't this Jackhole. I only managed to get 2 off and there wasn't anyone around our campsite within at least 100 yards that would've been hit by fall out. Moreover, I walked out the next morning and picked up the trash which included both of the mortar bases so it definetely wasn't one of ours. I would attribute the damage to your roof to irresponsible usage of fireworks by someone who doesn't care about their neighbors. That's not us.

you guys are lucky it was just for fireworks and not a serious crime....like peeing in the DESERT

i got one a possession of fireworks ticket a few years ago and went to see the judge on it.. All i got was 1 year probation.. i guess having a clean record helped...

I may or may not have a huge stash of fireworks from Pahrump in my garage.

I can't wait till Easter when I can go set them off legally in Picacho on the Indian Res.

So you're a Quechan? You do know that only tribal members are allowed to legally set them off there don't you?

Have a few friends who learned that the hard way. Tribal law is a lot less fun than US law if you get charged under it...doubly so if you don't have the "correct" heritage.

I do have one actually.When i go to kern river area they enforce those more often so i do get one and keep it in my truck.

would be funny if a ranger stopped by camp determined to give a ticket and cant find anything but a firepit and think he has a reason only to then seea fire permit.LOL

I have a friend who is Quechan who usually camps with us, he's never mentioned it being illegal there. The ladies that sold us the fireworks on the res. didn't say anything either. I'll have to ask him next time I go up there.

btw as for trash - I just walk to the camp next me if it has children and ask their parents if I can pay there little kids to clean up in exchange for money to spend on those super annoying ice cream trucks that drive all over the place.. It leaves them with sticky fingers and me with a clean campsite.

thats cheap. I down to the tune of $459 for open container. I made the mistake of driving my rhino inside a completley closed circle from the fire to my rv. And got guns pulled out as I held my 3 year old in my arms. Law Breaker here.

But the cops dont know if you are a threat to them or not so they are only doing there job. LOL

IMO guns drawn and holding a child i would be very pist about that and possibly filing a complaint.

Fireworks is a misd not an infraction. They are just citing and releasing you instead of doing what they could do which is take you to jail. Sounds like they cutting a lot of breaks by no one complaining of going to jail...

There's alot of eyes on duners these days, watch your back, watch your friends back and so on.. I don't camp by the book and follow every petty glamis rule. I set off a few lights for the kids, have ridden them round camp on the quad etc. I know I can get in trouble but I keep my eyes open! Never been fined or cited.