North Dakota Fireworks Laws (2026): Sale Windows, Ages, Penalties

North Dakota allows licensed retailers to sell an enumerated list of consumer fireworks to buyers 12 and older, but only during two short seasonal windows. N.D. Cent. Code §23-15-02's general sale prohibition is expressly written "except as otherwise provided in this chapter," and §23-15-01(2) is that exception: it names ten specific device categories that a retailer licensed under §23-15-04 may sell during June 27 through July 5 and December 26 through January 1. Violating the chapter is a class B misdemeanor, and illegal fireworks are seized at the owner's expense.

Jurisdiction scope: This article addresses North Dakota's state-level fireworks framework under N.D. Cent. Code ch. 23-15: the licensed-retailer sale windows, the enumerated device list, the class B misdemeanor penalty, and the separate municipal authority to regulate storage and use. It does not cover every local ordinance a specific North Dakota city or county may add on top of the statewide framework.

What's Actually Legal in North Dakota

North Dakota's fireworks chapter opens with a broad definition of "fireworks" in §23-15-01(1): any combustible or explosive composition, or substance or article, prepared to produce a visible or audible effect by combustion, explosion, deflagration, or detonation, and it goes on to include blank cartridges and toy pistols, canes, or guns that use an explosive other than a toy paper cap. The one true exclusion from that definition is narrow: a toy paper cap containing no more than 0.25 grain (16.20 milligrams) of explosive composition per cap is not "fireworks" at all. Nothing else, including the bottle rockets discussed below, is defined out of the category. That broad definition is followed immediately by §23-15-01(2), which is the operative exception: a retailer licensed under §23-15-04 may sell, to any individual at least 12 years old, and only during two specific calendar windows, ten enumerated categories of consumer fireworks. §23-15-02's general prohibition on sale is expressly subject to "except as otherwise provided in this chapter," which is what makes the §23-15-01(2) exception the chapter's real operating rule rather than a narrow carve-out.

The Ten Permitted Device Categories

Each category in §23-15-01(2) carries its own weight cap on the pyrotechnic composition: star lights and 10-ball devices (max 20 grams), helicopter-type flyers (max 20 grams), cylindrical fountains (max 75 grams), cone fountains (max 50 grams), wheels (max 60 grams per driver), illuminating torches and colored fire (max 100 grams), sparklers and dipped sticks (max 100 grams), comets and shells with an integral mortar (max 40 grams), soft-shell firecrackers (max 50 milligrams), and whistles without report (max 40 grams). A device that exceeds its category's weight cap, or that does not fall into any of the ten categories, remains prohibited even during the sale windows.

Three further limits sit inside those same categories and can flip a device from legal to illegal on their own: the sparkler/dipped-stick category excludes any composition containing chlorate above 5 grams; the comet-or-shell category excludes any comet or shell designed to produce an audible effect; and the soft-shell firecracker cap also requires the device to be no more than 1.5 inches long and 1/4 inch in diameter.

Sale Windows

Licensed retail sale is confined to two windows: June 27 through July 5, and December 26 through January 1. There is no year-round or permit-based sale path outside these dates for the enumerated retail category described above (a separate permit process covers supervised public displays, described below).

Chapter 23-15 regulates sale, not discharge. §23-15-02 bars using or exploding fireworks except as otherwise provided in the chapter, but nothing in the chapter sets discharge dates or hours; the two dates above are sale windows only. A municipality can set its own use restrictions under §40-05-01(38) (see Local Regulation, below); outside a municipality's limits, the chapter itself supplies no separate use window.

Age Minimum

A retailer may sell to any individual who is at least 12 years old (§23-15-01(2)). North Dakota does not set a higher purchaser age for its enumerated consumer-fireworks category.

Bottle Rockets Under 5/8 Inch Are Banned From Sale, Not Excluded

North Dakota does not exclude bottle rockets from the definition of "fireworks." §23-15-01(2)(a) does the opposite: it expressly bars a licensed retailer from offering to sell or distribute a "skyrocket, customarily known as a bottle rocket," if the outside diameter of its casing is less than 5/8 inch (15.875 millimeters) or its casing length is less than 3.5 inches (88.9 millimeters). A bottle rocket that size cannot lawfully be sold in North Dakota at all.

A bottle rocket larger than that threshold is still a "skyrocket" under the broad §23-15-01(1) definition of fireworks, and skyrockets do not appear among the ten enumerated categories a licensed retailer may sell under §23-15-01(2). So no size of bottle rocket is actually authorized for retail sale in North Dakota; the statute's only bottle-rocket-specific language is a prohibition, not a carve-out.

Permits for Supervised Public Displays

A supervised public fireworks display remains possible in North Dakota through a separate permit process under §23-15-03. A display given by a municipality or fair association within its own limits needs no permit at all. Anyone else must apply in writing to the city auditor at least 15 days before the display; the city's governing body investigates the operator's competence and the display location's safety, and the auditor issues the permit on payment of a $2 fee. For a display outside an incorporated municipality, the application instead goes to the county auditor, and the county commissioners perform the governing body's role. The permit is non-transferable, and once issued, sale, possession, use, and distribution of fireworks for that specific display are lawful only for that purpose. This permit track is for organized public exhibitions, not for the individual consumer retail sale described above.

Wholesale Licensing and Out-of-State Shipment

§23-15-04, titled "Exceptions," is the chapter's retailer- and wholesaler-licensing section, not a general restriction on in-state retail and consumer sale. It sets the license applications and fees (a $250 distributor license, a $20 retailer license), a calendar-year license term, a display requirement, and an invoice-retention duty. Within that licensing framework, a licensed wholesaler, dealer, or jobber may sell at wholesale fireworks that are not otherwise prohibited, and separately, the sale of any kind of fireworks for shipment directly out of state is permitted. That is a sale-for-export exception available to licensed sellers, not a right for an unlicensed distributor to move fireworks through the state: §23-15-04(3) states flatly that a person not licensed as a wholesaler or retailer may not bring any fireworks into North Dakota at all (see Crossing State Lines, below).

Penalties

Violating chapter 23-15, including selling outside the licensed windows, selling to someone under 12, or selling a device outside the ten enumerated categories, is a class B misdemeanor under §23-15-06. North Dakota's class B misdemeanor classification carries a maximum of 30 days' imprisonment and a $1,500 fine, or both (§12.1-32-01). Illegal fireworks are also seized at the owner's expense under §23-15-05, a separate consequence from the misdemeanor charge.

Local Regulation

Beyond the statewide framework, North Dakota municipalities separately have the power under N.D. Cent. Code §40-05-01(38) to regulate and prohibit the storage of combustible or explosive material, the use of open flame lights, the building of bonfires, and the use or sale of firecrackers and fireworks. That sale power matters more than storage-and-use language alone suggests: a North Dakota city can prohibit retail sale of fireworks within its limits even though chapter 23-15 licenses that sale statewide. A municipality's own ordinance can add further restriction on top of the statewide licensed-sale framework, so a device legal under chapter 23-15 can still be unsellable, unusable, or unstorable locally.

Crossing State Lines

North Dakota's own law is stricter than federal law on this point, and it applies regardless of the calendar date or device type. §23-15-02 bars any person, except as otherwise provided in chapter 23-15, from bringing fireworks into North Dakota, and §23-15-04(3) states it flatly: a person not licensed as a wholesaler or retailer may not bring any fireworks into this state. A consumer who drives fireworks in from Montana, South Dakota, or Minnesota is violating chapter 23-15, a class B misdemeanor under §23-15-06, whether or not it is June or December and whether or not the device would otherwise be on the enumerated sale list.

Federal law adds a separate layer on top of that state rule. It is also a crime to transport fireworks into a "State" that prohibits their sale or use, or to deliver fireworks for that transportation, knowing they will be delivered, possessed, or used in a way state law prohibits, with an exception for fireworks only passing through in continuous interstate transportation (18 U.S.C. §836). That statute defines "State" to mean the several states, territories, and possessions of the United States, and the District of Columbia; it does not reach a county or city ordinance the way North Dakota's own chapter 23-15 does.

For a neighboring state with a much broader, non-seasonal retail framework, see Montana's fireworks laws. For a neighboring state with its own distinct regime, see Minnesota's fireworks laws.

For how North Dakota's licensed-sale windows compare with every other state, see the fireworks laws by state comparison. North Dakota's open container laws are a separate statute and are not affected by the fireworks rules described here.

Disclaimer: This article provides general legal information about fireworks laws in the United States as of September 2026. It is not legal advice. Fireworks statutes, local ordinances, sale/use windows, and penalties change frequently and are often further restricted by county or city ordinance beyond what state law requires; verify the current rule for your specific city and county before buying, selling, or using fireworks, and consult a lawyer licensed in your state for advice about a specific situation.

Statutes cited reflect their in-force version as of 2026-09-17. Last updated: 2026-09-17.