Mom wants tougher fireworks laws after son sets off explosive on his head, dies

Fireworks.
(Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Days after her son was killed instantly after setting off a firework on top of his head, a Maine mother is calling for stricter laws on who can have access to the explosives.

Police say that on the 4th of July, Devon Staples, 22, was drinking with friends in the town of Calais when the accident happened with a mortar tube. In the wake of her son's death, Kathleen Staples wants to see lawmakers consider requiring safety training courses before letting someone use fireworks. "At least it'd be a little bit more than, 'Here you go,'" she told The Associated Press. "That's an explosive. They didn't just hand me a license and put me in the car."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.