Child Protection Act of 1966

[displayfireworks1]

Now that I have obtained these vintage Silver Salutes I am researching some of the legislative events that took them off the market back in 1966. One of which was the Child Protection Act of 1966.
Here is link to a document of hearings during that time period. You can see starting on document page number 37 going forward, fireworks are discussed at length. Also interesting to see mention of the American Pyrotechnic Association on page 44.
On a side note, mentioned in the document, many people may not be aware of are “Cracker Balls” these are discussed in the document also. Of note is how they were getting confused by children as candy.
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https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-89shrg70820/pdf/CHRG-89shrg70820.pdf

[RalphieJ]

A group of plant owners were against this act's passage, for the reasons that it would lead to an uncontrollable black market of ground salutes. Those old school Italian masters knew what they were talking about, with the immediate introduction of devices never before available with legal retail sales, especially in the northeast's tri-state area. Many of these were manufactured by The Mafia in basements of the 5 boroughs. Using hot melt for end caps was a rapid and cheap method of manufacturing. 2" and 3" diameter salutes were readily available. Those 3-inchers were downright lethal. Although The Italian Mob is no longer involved, manufacturing of illegal devices has shifted to the West Coast by the highly organized "street" gangs.

[KDirk]

Do current production "crackling balls" (usually sold wrapped in green or blue foil) bear any resemblance to the ones mentioned from the 1960's? I can almost see where a little kid might mistake the currently available ones for candy, given the style of outer wrapper. Not that much of a stretch to think it was something like a big Hershey Kiss, in the mind of a young child. Interesting too, that the Mafia responded to the outlawing of these ground salutes by making much more powerful ones for the black market. I guess there was a real demand, and they chose to fill it.

[gweilo]

No, the old cracker balls looked a lot like Trix cereal, and were made in Japan. While it certainly may have happened, I never heard about any documentation that kids actually confused them for candy (or Trix cereal). Most were made with a mix of realgar and potassium chlorate, but some just had simple paper caps inside surrounded by small gravel. It seems to me that today's "adult" throw downs are much louder. I hope no small kid bites into one of them!

[KDirk]

Ok, so these were more like modern "snap and pops". I had no frame of reference for their size or they looked like. Thanks for the added context. I will say the modern crackling balls I was referring to pack a heck of a punch for fairly inexpensive pyro novelties.

[displayfireworks1]

If I remember correctly those Cracker Balls from back in the day were small, various colors and the ball appeared to be made from what looked like very thin aluminum foil. If someone has them in their collection would be great if they could post a picture or email me a picture and I will post it. pyrotalk@gmail.com