Scores of new laws take effect Thursday and time is almost up for fans of novelty cigarette lighters.

One of the new laws bans the sale of cigarette lighters designed to look like toys. 

Other laws taking effect Oct. 1 would allow local governments to halt the opening of new liquor stores, toughen the process for proving scrap metal isn't stolen and exclude installing a replacement water heater from building permitting requirements.

The Senate approved a bill that would ban the sale of most novelty lighters.

Sen. Austin Allran, a Hickory Republican and sponsor of the bill, brought a box of the lighters to show his Senate colleages why children would be drawn to the fire.

He brandished a lighter that resembles the Disney character "Nemo." The flame comes out of the fish's mouth when you depress the back fin.

"They're very entertaining but they're also very dangerous," Allran said.

Allran also displayed lighters that looked like a deck of cards, an astronaut, a fishing rod, a cell phone and a miniature shotgun. All were made in China and none comply with child safety standards.

In 2006, a North Carolina child suffered second degree burns while playing with a lighter that looked like a cell phone, Allran said.

Sen. David Hoyle, a Gastonia Democrat, said that the bill would leave convenience stores stuck with boxes of lighters they could no longer sell. Ultimately, he said, parents need to be responsible for keeping lighters away from children.

"Somewhere along the way, somebody's got to take some personal responsibility," Hoyle said.

The bill easily passed the Senate Thursday and next moves to the House.

After the Senate adjourned, one of Dome's press corps colleagues nearly burned herself on the astronaut lighter.