It is summertime in California, which means singing along to your favorite tunes and hanging out with friends. All year long you’ve been waiting to let go, go on vacation, and bring out your favorite summer playlist. You’ve got your swimsuit on, and the car packed for the beach. You’re all set, right? Wrong. You’ve forgotten to think about your safety, and the safety of those around you.

Even though you want to be carefree this summer, you still need to take the necessary steps to be safe. Before heading out anywhere alone, notify a family member, or close friend of your plans. It may seem ridiculous, but if something were to happen to you while you were alone, no one would know. Notifying someone of your plans allows them to know where you are, and to worry about you if they don’t hear back from you at some point. Traveling alone this summer can be a freeing experience, but can turn into a criminal mystery real quick if no one knows you plans.

If you’re traveling with friends this summer, talk about your plans. If you all plan on spending the night before drinking the night away, it’s best to set up an alternative way home, instead of driving yourselves. Knowing ahead of time that you plan on taking a taxi home will help eliminate the drama of last minute changes of plans. It also gives your group of friends the peace of mind of who is the designated driver. Most importantly, it doesn’t allow any drunk driving to occur.

Summer is all about exploring, but don’t surround yourself with strangers. Going to a party alone with strangers is a recipe for disaster. Party settings are usually full of drinking, smoking, and people making bad decisions. Don’t let yourself be in that kind of situation. Bringing a friend that you know to a party will bring you some peace of mind. If things don’t go well at the party, you’ll have a familiar face that you know you can count on.

Summer is the best time to cut loose and be a little crazy. However, you still need to be safe, and accountable for your actions. You can still have a carefree summer, just take a few small steps to remain safe. These small steps could make the difference between life and death. That may seem too serious for the summertime, but situations can turn deadly if no one took the necessary precautionary steps.

California has some of the strictest guns laws within the United States. While this is frustrating for some, it is meant to help keep people safe. There are many people out there who should not own a gun or any other sort of weapon. That is why people are now required to pass a background check before purchasing a gun.

Unfortunately, despite all of these laws, guns still fall into the wrong hands. Take for instance a southern California resident who was recently arrested for own too many guns. Manuel Fernandez, a 60-year-old Agua Dulce resident, was recently arrested for having over 500 different guns in his home. That is a ridiculously large number of weapons. The only people who need that many guns are army suppliers and video game characters with comically large backpacks.

Aside from owning far too many weapons, the man was also a convicted felon. In case you weren’t aware, it is illegal in California for a felon to own any firearms. This makes the insane crime even worse. Fernandez was arrested for being a felon in possession of a firearm and for illegally possessing an assault rifle.

This is a perfect example of why some people should not be allowed to purchase firearms. This is why many of the California gun laws exist. However, this does bring up the question of how did this man acquire so many weapons? After all, over 500 is an absurd amount of guns for a single person.

Whenever anyone mentions the Fourth of July, you can bet that everyone’s first thought is fireworks. These colorful little explosives go hand in hand with the holiday.in fact, this is so true that you can’t buy most fireworks in California unless the holiday is just around the corner. While this may be inconvenient for some people, this is actually required by law within the state of California.

California has several laws regarding fireworks. Firstly, fireworks are divided into two categories within the state, they can either be “Dangerous” or “Safe and Sane” fireworks. Dangerous fireworks are what are seen at professional firework displays. Only people with special display licenses are allowed to set off dangerous fireworks within the state of California.

One of the most prominent laws regarding safe and sane fireworks, is that they can only be sold from noon on June 28th to noon on July 6th. Anyone can set off safe and sane fireworks, provided they are allowed to within their city or district. The problem there being that many places have banned people from setting off safe and sane fireworks on their own.

The restrictions set on fireworks are largely done to try and prevent any fires from starting. As most Californians know, wildfires are pretty common out here, which is why fireworks are banned in rural areas where a stray spark could set something ablaze. Due to their high fire risk, all safe and sane fireworks have to be approved by the State Fire Marshall.

The Fourth of July and fireworks are a lot of fun, however it is important to remember that fireworks can be dangerous when handled improperly. That is why, sometimes it is best to simply go to a professional show. Doing that will give you a much bigger show. No matter what you decide, just be sure to have a fun and safe Independence Day.