I totally agree. I'm no killjoy, but the time has come to a) stop sales of fireworks to the public, and b) restrict fireworks to the 5th November only, and possibly other specific licensed events - such as the Olympic opening/closing and the next millennium eve!
The reason I say stop the sales of fireworks to the public is because of the stupidity of many in setting them off inappropriately, dangerously and inconsiderately, and because many of today's fireworks are simply too loud.

The problem seems to be getting worse, making much of October, November, and December a misery for pet owners, not to mention the danger from yobs misusing fireworks. I think it's finally time to ban the loud ones from sale to the general public, and restrict their use to public displays close to November 5th, Diwali etc.

Today we know that the major problem of fireworks are not the burns, explosion injuries to the eyesight and hearing etc.: Fireworks are mainly a fine dust problem! Therefore, not only a minority of the population is affected, but each and every one of us.
Health problems because of short-term high levels of fine dust are still highly underestimated, but a rise of the PM10-concentration (fine dust) in the air by 10 µg/m3 “only” (ten micro gram per cubic meter of air) can cause symptoms in the respiratory tracts, bronchitis, asthma, arrhythmia, emergency visits to doctors and emergency rooms at hospitals, hospitalisation because of pneumonia, asthma attacks, cardiac disorder and other respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, job absences with economic implications and in the worst case, fatalities as a result of these diseases. - Fine dust finds its way through each and every crack of our buildings. As long as our houses cannot be 100% sealed, it is not sufficient for those concerned just to stay indoors as a protection shield against this hazard.
When igniting fireworks, a mixture of chemical substances are released, very similar to that of an explosion. During the burn-off process, the different materials blend and cause chemical reactions; a multitude of new substances of unknown composition and toxicity accrues. – There are enough new scientific studies about this part of the fireworks-problem; e.g. “Ambient air quality of Lucknow City (India) during use of fireworks on Diwali festival”, 2008, by Barman SC et al.; “Emissions and accumulation of metals in the atmosphere due to crackers and sparkles during Diwali festival in India”, 2004, by Kulshrestha UC et al.; “Recreational atmospheric pollution episodes: Inhalable metalliferous particles from firework displays”, 2007, by Moreno T et al.; “Short-term variation in air quality associated with fireworks events: a case study”, 2003, by Ravindra K et al.; “The impact of fireworks on airborne particles”, 2008, by

End of my comment:
“The impact of fireworks on airborne particles”, 2008, by Vecchi R et al.; “’Green’ Pyrotechnics: A Chemists’ Challenge”, 2008, by Steinhauser G and Klapötke TM; “Heavy metals from pyrotechnics in New Years Eve snow” by Steinhauser G et al. and so on. (You find a lot more article under the scientific/medical articles under http://www.stop-fireworks.org/articles.htm)
Whether fireworks are burned down "correctly" or "incorrectly", by amateurs in their own garden or by skilled and specially trained professionals on public events makes no difference: in the end, the emissions remain the same.
The lights and colours, the sounds and sights of exploding fireworks whilst beautiful fade away in seconds. The pollution of the air remains for a lot longer, and the deposit of heavy metals in soil and waters remains for decades. It can take several weeks for people that are sensitive to fine dust, for example asthmatics, to recover!
Environmental protection and international campaigns to reduce fine dust become a farce and untrustworthy when not including the banning of fireworks.
Fireworks are nothing but a “chemical fallout” and have to be banned.