For years the lighting of fireworks has been illegal within the city limits of Lawton, but in my neighborhood, that little law doesn't stop anybody and I'm OK with that. Obviously, this is a law that almost every municipality adopted long ago because of the fire risk, but especially in a deep conservative state, isn't the safety and responsibility put upon the citizens on an individual basis the norm when it comes to most everything here?

I grew up in Denver, Colorado. Almost all of the housing there is roofed with shake shingles. Dry, old, tinder-like pieces of wood. It's more of an architecture choice, but that's the norm way up there, and it's perfectly legal to light fireworks in your driveway across the Denver metro area so long as they aren't the aerial type. Sure, mortars are some of the funnest things to witness, but again, dry wood roofs most likely don't mix well... but everything else is good to go. If we're so big on freedom, why doesn't Lawton allow for fireworks like this?

I can remember all of the kids on our street picking out and lining up those little firecracker tanks for a little light drag racing. It was a blast, but even these fun little firecrackers are against the law. In fact, if you read Lawton City Code Chapter 11: Fire Prevention, as a technicality, even the little fun poppers available at every grocery store this time of year is illegal in their composition and subject to seizure and weighted fines. Isn't it about time Lawton allows a freedom for the celebration of freedom in the form of legalizing non-aerial fireworks? I understand some governments typically say things like "It's for public safety" and such, but the federal government says the same thing about guns and ain't nobody handing those over anytime soon.

LOOK: Here are the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.

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