Besides the parade, pies and prizes, and everything else fun that goes into the Fourth of July celebration, there are a couple of important safety reminders about keeping it fun.

They both involve gunpowder.

The first will come Thursday, July 2, with the annual target shooting competition at the shooting range on the Spur Road. The organizers, led by Allen Rooney, have made it into much more than simply a contest — they have made it into a safety lesson for youngsters.

Anyone under the age of 18 who can recite the four laws of gun safety will receive a $25 gift card to a Wrangell business, while supplies last. The gun safety reward is not limited to youngsters who participate in the target shooting competition — any kid can come to the shooting range and test their memory skills instead of their aim.

“The primary focus for me has always been firearm safety,” Rooney said last week.

Safety also is the primary focus this holiday weekend for the police department, which plans to actively patrol for people setting off illegal fireworks, particularly in the downtown area.

And they are all illegal, except for the town’s official display that will blast off late in the evening July 4. Municipal law requires a permit to set off fireworks, and no one has applied for permission, Police Chief Gene Meek said. The fine for a first violation is $200.

“We’re going to be driving around and looking for people setting off fireworks,” the chief said. It’s about safety, not hassling people.

“We had an incident (last year) in which a young man nearly blew his thumb off,” holding a mortar shell in his hand, Meek said. And stray fireworks set off by people exploded near the City Dock, which could have started a chain reaction with the explosives stacked up for the evening show.

Joan Sargent, who is organizing many of this year’s Fourth activities, wrote to the police last month, urging more aggressive enforcement of the municipal laws that ban fireworks.

She is right to be concerned, as everyone should be. In the right hands, fireworks create brilliant displays of color in the night sky. In untrained hands, they can be dangerous to the owner of those hands and anyone nearby.

Best to leave the fireworks to experts, and best that youngsters study up on gun safety to win a $25 gift card. Then everyone can have a happy and safe Fourth of July.