COEUR d'ALENE - Christopher Goodwin and Josh Shaw plan to break the law on Sunday.

So does Nathan Spencer.

Law abiding citizens normally, they claim, but more than willing to skirt the rules every Fourth of July.

"It's America," Spencer said. "We like to blow things up."

Spencer, like the rest of them, is planning to put on his own fireworks show for the holiday. He's not lighting the safe and sane kind either, but the high-flying ones that can be bought on the Coeur d'Alene Reservation that are illegal inside city limits.

Should he get caught he could face up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine for the misdemeanor infraction.

But chances are he won't.

"We'll enforce it when we can," said Christie Wood, Coeur d'Alene police spokesperson, on illegal fireworks lighting the city sky. "But they're a low priority compared to the other calls we get on the Fourth."

In fact, Wood said, the department has already told several blockwatch groups that they probably won't come out for firecracker calls around the holiday.

Domestic disputes, fighting, alcohol offenses and drunken driving complaints fill the department's time more than usual this time of year - especially downtown - and that's where the force will concentrate.

Last year, between June 25 to July 5 police received 80 fireworks complaints. From those 80 calls they did cite three violators, all in City Park. In the same time frame, police took around 2,000 other calls.

So if the best method is to police yourself, well, many people don't.

"If you're responsible about it, know what you're doing and doing it safely, then it isn't dangerous," said Shaw, who purchased $350 in fireworks at the Thunder Junction firework stand on the reservation on Thursday.

"It's the Fourth of July and people are having a good time," Goodwin added, saying he and Shaw are planning to light them all during the Fourth.

Still, some wonder, why break the law? And why break the law for so long?

"If it's illegal, don't do it," said Mary Andrews, who has already been kept awake at night by fireworks in her Coeur d'Alene neighborhood.

Annoying, she said, because it's not even the Fourth.

"That's my thing," she said. "The Fourth of July is one thing but it seems to be getting longer and longer with the days leading up to and after the holiday. They're setting them off for weeks now."

But it's not worth calling the police, she said, as it wouldn't be a good use of their resources if it were high on their priority list.

Safe and sane fireworks are legal in Coeur d'Alene June 25 to July 5. They don't fly or explode. But if you throw them, that makes them illegal, too. As for the big boomers that can be purchased on the reservation, they're illegal outside incorporated cities in Kootenai County as well, and simply possessing them is citation worthy.

In fact, once a car leaves the reservation with illegal fireworks, it's in violation of the law, said Maj. Ben Wolfinger, of the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department. But it's a low priority for deputies, too. The department didn't issue any citations last year.

Not that setting them off doesn't have its repercussions.

Last year, the Coeur d'Alene Fire Department put out three fires started from illegal fireworks, causing $1,500 in damages. This year there has already been one, causing a couple hundred dollars in damage to a Third Street home, according to the department.

Legal or not, the show will go on said Spencer, who puts on the nighttime display for his friends and family every year. He's safe with it though, he said. Only a few people light them, the rest stand far back, and the crackles fly over the water. He's not causing trouble, he said.

But would he be shocked if he was ticketed Sunday?

"I'd accept it," he said. "We're clearly doing something illegal."