IMPORTANT NEWS for UNITED KINGDOM "Ban The Bang" Supporters

As you may have heard, UK government has announced that MP's have backed proposals to reduce the period that fireworks are used and available for sale. Licences will also be required for displays outside the three week period around 5th November. Lighting fireworks after 11pm will be banned.

Erm ... well this Ban the Bang! campaign is certainly not convinced that a pet or wild animal on the verge of a heart attack - when a bombardment of fireworks begins - gives a hoot (or a whine) about what time of the day it is.

I have received hundreds of letters about our campaign and thank you kindly for your support. Votes have been streaming in, and always in far greater numbers during firework periods.

Although this Ban the Bang" campaign has clearly contributed to bringing about government interest in the problem, Looking-Glass and VeggieGlobal wants to make it known that it feels the current proposal does not address the issue of animal protection in any way.
The common's proposal only condenses the period that fireworks are used - meaning that everyone will be cramming their displays within the three week window (and before the 11pm curfew). The increased noise and aerial bombardment means the distress for animals will be even greater. The public use of fireworks will still be allowed on New Year's Eve and religious festivals.
A noise level limit is to be set on rockets that bang ... although information on this is vague, this is probably in line with EU proposals, which still don't seem to be clearly specified - But whatever the noise level is set at, it will still be frighteningly loud for animals as well as small children. In our opinion and in the opinion of all our campaign voters, any noise emitted from a firework is enough to distress an animal. The imposed noise limits are only to reduce the level below that which may damage human hearing.
In other words, the points raised in the "Ban the Bang" campaign now become even more of an important issue for the UK.

Somewhere in-between this campaign's cause and the government's proposal, a fundamental ingredient has been lost. Some time ago, one or two of our site visitors had presented the text from this site's campaign to their local MP's and so helping the ball begin to roll. Judging by the terminology of the proposal and subsequent press reports, it seems likely that "Ban the Bang" may have been a contributory factor of labour MP Mr Tynan's proposal. Even other web sites also appeared shortly after this campaign was launched, mirroring our concerns (some, rather lazily seemed to have copied this site's text almost word for word!). However, it's all for a potentially good cause ... and that's the important thing - In fact, the more pressure on the government, the better.
But that is where the similarities stop. The press say that the government's proposal has been "backed by a number of pressure groups, including several animal welfare groups". If any of those animal welfare groups are actually worthy of their good causes, surely they must realize that this new law is entirely designed to improve the quality of life marginally for people only ... not animals. There is next-to-no substance in these proposals that should prompt any worthy animal group to celebrate. The Commons proposal is entirely designed to satisfy a self-serving aspect of the UK population, more concerened about their personal comfort. The people who do need protection from the firework menace are the elderly. They and their sole companions - their pets are greatly affected, and comments sent to this campaign show this to be the case. Again, these finer aspects of the firework problem have not been taken into account.

Overall, assurances made by government regarding animal welfare are just token remarks, adding appeasement to the good old facade of British animal compassion.

The letters we have received only confirms this. Many voters of "Ban the Bang" even suggest this site's campaign doesn't even go far enough. About 75% of our voters say they want an outright ban on ALL fireworks. Well ... over the last three years, I have always pointed out that I didn't want put across a killjoy attitude and that we should think "happy mediums" here ... And so, banning the main culprits, being noise generating and aerial fireworks should be a simple and effective solution. That leaves us with an attractive assortment of sparkly fountains, catherine wheels and low level "volcano" effect fireworks - all gentle to the eye and ears - and fun for children rather than frightening. In a way, this is a far simpler and more effective idea than the slapdash proposal, which the government are going ahead with - Their solution simply doesn't address the issue sufficiently from an animal viewpoint.
Although MP Mr Bill Tynan's heart was somewhere in the right place when he put forward his proposal, he clearly hasn't thought it through carefully enough. In the real world, this law only creates an "out of the frying pan and into the fire" situation.
A properly defined and thought out solution, which completely eliminates the threat to animals and subsequently peace for communities must be put forward to the commons.

We therefore urge you to continue to support this campaign so that in addtion to the new UK government bill, a complete ban on all noisy and aerial type fireworks are removed from public sale all year round.

Looking-Glass and VeggieGlobal

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