Yep firecrackers are banned in Tennessee, so they would go across the Kentucky border where there is HUGE fireworks store so brightly lit you could prolly see it from space. Roman candles and M80's have cost many a redneck his fingers, or worse. That is why Tennessee banned them. That state is a red state, by the way.
M80s..now those things scare the crap out of me. Why in the world you want to hold a 1/8 stick of dynamite and hand light it with a 3 inch fuse is beyond me...lol
M80's are actually banned in the entire country. They are still weak fire crackers marketed under m80 but they dont contain the right amount of flash powder for the big boom! you would normally get.
One Independence Day I had National Park Service "beaver dam busters" in my possession. During a fierce battle with the neighbors across the street, in which the exchange of pop bottle rockets was heavy, I threw one of those onto their yard. Couldn't believe the boom, or the brightness of the center of the burst! The grass was dry, so it set their yard on fire. They put it out with beer.
In my neighborhood back in the U.S. we would have bottle rocket fights until one year, a guy about 18 or so, had about 10 of them in his pocket, and, you guessed it, got hit by another one. Not pretty. He was ok, but did spend the night in the hospital. Not too smart on our end.
The game was to light the M80 and let the fuse burn down as far as you could before you threw it. Never understood it myself either.
That would explain a lot about the moronic culture you grew up in. Seems like it sunk in pretty well.