M-80s, cannon crackers, silver salutes, cherry bombs, and other big bangers have been federally banned since 1967 and they are no long considered firecrackers, but Illegal Explosive Devices. Making them, possessing them for transfer or sale, offering to transfer or sell them, or transferring or selling them, either assembled or in kit form is a federal felony. The reason was because they could and sometimes did split eardrums, splinter hands, send debris flying, and hurt a lot of people ..... even when they were used properly. Worse they hurt even more people and caused even more damage when they were misused.
After the school spent thousands of dollars to repair the plumbing over-and-over again because some knuckle-head decided to flush one down the system, or an entire neighborhood's mail boxes had been destroyed for the 3rd time in a year, or some kid thought it would be funny to toss one into the bleachers at the local basketball game not only scaring the hell out of everyone, but seriously hurting someone in the process, or yet another young gentleman in the county had a hand mangled, eardrum shattered, or an eye damaged, people's patience wore pretty thin and they did something to prevent it from happening again.
There were also a number of accidents involved in their manufacture as well, since at the time anyone who could mix a few powders in a barrel, glue cardboard tubes together, and stick a fuse in a hole could go into business making them. A few horrific explosions at factories killed entire families so now there are much stricter requirements for manufacturing fireworks and even stricter rules for making and handling flash powder in quantity.
Now that they are banned, there are still some who make them for the black market, and they too seem to blow themselves, and their neighbors up from time to time. Since they are underground, they take few if any precautions in the way they handle and store the flash powder that goes into them, and thus have a greater chance of having a fatal accident.
The ones coming out of clandestine factories from up in the
hills, down in the basements, and out in the garages, from Mexico and
from some Indian Reservations are often cheaply made and their
reliability and performance isn't that great. Most of the people who
make these have very little understanding of what is required to
manufacture explosives, so safety for themselves, their families,
neighbors, and unknown customers is often compromised.
These devices are involved in up to 40% of the annual CPSC
estimates for injuries due to fireworks, and the majority of the
serious ones.
Whatever you do, if you do obtain some or make some, don't you
offer to give them or sell them to anyone else, since that is a felony
and if you get caught, you will be prosecuted.
While the 50 mg limit for firecrackers seems pretty tame in comparison, one can still have a lot of fun with a brick or two of firecrackers, and the risks involved are much lower too.