The recent proposals to stop illegal fireworks are not going to work the way their supporters want. They have unrealistic expectations about the power of laws.

There needs to be a different approach. We need to accept the limits and inflated promises of laws and focus on fireworks as a neighborhood issue.

That moves the concentration from the courtroom to the more human side — what can be learned from the tragedy at 4144 Keaka Drive, the Salt Lake house where fireworks exploded New Year’s Eve.

Why not rely on laws to do the job? Three reasons.

First, making tougher laws is far from a guarantee that people will be more likely to obey them.

Harsher sentences do not guarantee more obedience. As the psychologist Tom Tyler has shown, people obey laws not because they fear punishment but because they think the law-making institution has legitimacy.

The Fourth of July Is Just 6 Months Away

People also often have other goals and desires that make disobedience worth the risk. The history of fireworks laws in Hawaiʻi is a history of disobedience and non-enforcement.

As Civil Beat described it, “The primary reason for the lack of progress on fireworks bills is that fireworks are popular, legislators say, and they fear the wrath of their constituents.” Even a simple bill calling for the state to study the social and economic impacts of permitting the sale of aerials was never heard.

Why should more of the same suddenly bring dramatic results? Neither shaming nor scaring is enough to turn this well-established pattern around.

Second, the legal process is slow and cumbersome. “We need to do something!” has an aura of crisis: “Change right now!”

Laws can’t make “right now” happen. Laws are just words on the books until they are implemented, and implementation is a whole other story that’s often long, complicated and disappointing.

Even if the fireworks laws you want get passed this legislative session, implementing them will, if that happens at all, take an enormous amount of time, a great increase in resources and important changes in the way organizations work.

If you think the justice system is creaky now and has been for a long time — a fair assessment — why would you think things can change quickly for the better because there are new, tougher laws? 

Harsher laws mean harder work for those working in a system that’s underfunded, understaffed and has a lot of competing priorities. The police, for instance. 

Increasing port inspections is also a warren of complications. The state’s Department of Transportation, as well as Matson, are concerned that more inspections would interfere with port operations. 

Right now, it’s a confusing mixture of federal and state authorities and regulations. That’s not incompetence. It’s federalism in action. Things work that way. They are supposed to.

Meanwhile the Fourth of July is only six months away. A crucial day for all of us, fireworks-wise, but for the effort to put more teeth in the fireworks law, that’s only a moment in time.

A Moral Crusade

Third, the demand for new fireworks laws has become a moral crusade. Understandable. Passing new laws in a moral crusade, however, is a time-tested way to cool people out when the chips are down.

Because once the laws are passed in these crusades, people are satisfied simply by the fact that their views of right and wrong have been supported. That takes the pressure off the need actually to make the laws work.

Setting up a task force is an excellent mechanism for cooling out. Guess what? The governor is setting up yet another fireworks task force. There have been at least two other fireworks task forces in the recent past.

I hope I have at least convinced you that law is something to worry about instead of something to rely on as a savior.

No way the legal process can turn the fireworks problem around on its own.

A neighborhood approach works with that more complicated story. It begins bottom-up with neighborhoods.

4144 Keaka Drive

Everyone on that Salt Lake street knew the fireworks were illegal, but that was way back in their minds, not because they were rebels, anarchists or outlaws. Because, well, because that’s what friends and neighbors do. It was a block party. A beautiful night in the neighborhood.

A neighbor from across the street described how he was “enjoying the fireworks with guests and the rest of the neighbors” when it happened. “The neighbors like to host every year,” he told Hawaii News Now. “They were pretty good with handling and everything. I guess this year was not so good.”

Good chance you’ve been to New Year’s festivities like this. I know I have, two short blocks from my house. Every year big crowds, lots of fellowship. It ended with a pule. Danger, shame, violation, rebelliousness, all far from our minds. We were having fun, sharing aloha.

Neighbors enabling neighbors, Hawaii-style.

Begin by asking this about the Keaka Drive block: Over the years, did the neighbors ever try to stop those fireworks up the block and down the street? Instead of being spectators, did they ever turn off their lights and quit watching? Or try to talk neighbor-to-neighbor about why they should stop exposing their children to danger: “We love you. We love your family. You are such great neighbors. But please don’t expose them to this.”

Instead, the neighbors were spectators and cheerleaders, not critics either of the folks setting off the fireworks or of themselves.

Think about that not as a sign of a neighborhood with strong ties but rather weak ones. Strong neighborhoods don’t simply live and let live. People keep track of one another, pay attention to what their neighbors do. I’ve written about this before.

I admit this is a hard sell. It’s a difficult thing to ask. Put it in context, though. If the legal process is such a weak tool, people who want to get rid of illegal aerials have no other choice but to take responsibility and initiative — to tough-love thy neighbor and thyself.

So, here are some things that can help the neighborhood work. Approach fireworks education the same way we do public health education. Develop ads like we use about drug and tobacco use, drinking and safe driving. Talk about fireworks in the classroom.

Neighborhood boards, religious organizations, neighborhood groups, all of these can keep fireworks on their agendas. People on the block can come forward to hold discussions. There are ways to do this that minimize conflict and facilitate problem-solving.

Building from the ground up. Teaching that ohana does not mean exposing your loved ones to danger and that aloha does not simply mean live and let live.

Does this sound hokey or idealistic? You don’t want to go this route? You think it’s possible to put enough teeth into the fireworks law? 

OK, up to you. I tried. Let’s talk again on July 5 and on Jan. 1, 2026.