The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) conducted an investigation that resulted in a Springfield, Ill. man being sentenced on federal felony charges. The U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Consumer Litigation and U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of Illinois carried out the prosecution of these charges, which involve the manufacture and the sale of illegal "fireworks" in the Midwest. Certain kinds of explosives are often sold as "fireworks," but are in fact banned under federal law.

U.S. District Court Judge Jeanne E. Scott sentenced 52-year-old Robert J. Carr, of Springfield, Ill., to 21 months in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release, for illegally distributing explosive materials. Carr manufactured and sold illegal fireworks, commonly known as M-80's, quarter sticks, ping-pong balls, and other devices. Carr's business, Midwest Fireworks and Display Inc., of Mason City, Ill., sold these illegal devices in several states, including Illinois and Wisconsin.

"These illegal explosives are small bombs," said CPSC Chairman Ann Brown. "They can maim and even kill. We are gratified that by imposing these sentences, the court has endorsed our strong stand against the manufacture and sale of these deadly products."

CPSC sets national safety standards for fireworks. Explosives, such as M-80s, quarter-sticks, half-sticks, and tennis ball bombs, are illegal and responsible for hundreds of injuries and even deaths every year.

Since 1999, the CPSC and ATF have been conducting an investigation into the manufacture, distribution and sale of illegal explosive devices commonly sold as "firecrackers" to consumers in the Midwest. This investigation was initiated when CPSC investigators looked into the death of a 17-year-old Wisconsin boy who was killed while lighting a device known as a quarter stick.

The CPSC has received reports of hundreds of injuries and even deaths related to illegal firecracker-type explosive devices. These devices are sold illegally to consumers as fireworks or firecrackers. In 2000, hospital emergency rooms nationwide have treated an estimated 11,000 fireworks-related injuries. The improper use of fireworks or the use of illegal fireworks has resulted in deaths, blindings, amputations and severe burns.

Under the authority granted to it by the Federal Hazardous Substances Act, the CPSC prohibits the sale of the most dangerous types of fireworks, and the components intended to make them. The banned fireworks include M-80s, M-1000s, quarter-sticks, half-sticks, and other large firecrackers. Any firecracker with more than 50 milligrams of explosive powder is banned under federal law, as are mail order kits and components designed to build these fireworks.

CPSC conducts fireworks surveillance and enforcement throughout the year. Each year, CPSC stops hundreds of shipments of hazardous fireworks devices before they reach the store shelves. Working with the U.S. Customs Service since 1988, CPSC has seized or detained more than 400 million hazardous fireworks at the docks.