Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – A bill to expand the kinds of fireworks available in Illinois is a dud, according to fire safety leaders.

Margaret Vaughn (pictured, at mic), executive director of the Illinois Fire Safety Alliance and the Illinois Firefighters Association, said the bill is the work of an out-of-state fireworks company using the name “United States Fireworks Safety Association” to trick lawmakers into approving bills such as the one in Illinois. “They basically are taking high-powered explosives out of the definition of fireworks,” Vaughn said Tuesday, “and basically totally deregulating them and putting them in the same category as a party-popper or a snake.”

Vaughn said the explosives in question blasts about 25 feet in all directions. She said states which have approved these devices – such as Iowa and Wisconsin – have seen injuries rise. When a reporter pointed out Vaughn did not mention two neighboring states notorious for liberal fireworks regulations, Indiana and Missouri, she said some states outlaw the reporting of fireworks injury statistics.

Representatives of WILD Canine Rescue and Illinois Humane discussed the effects fireworks have on animals, whose hearing is generally keener than that of adults.