Stop Celebrating with Gunfire

[Bill Mattocks]

Every New Years, I hear it. The guns going off to celebrate the end of the year. Sometimes it is fireworks, but many times it is high-powered rifle and pistol fire and shotguns. I'm pretty proficient with weapons and have a long history with them, so I'm familiar with how they sound.

Since I was a boy, I've heard of people being struck and killed by falling bullets, so I have never understood why people do this. Those bullets have to come down somewhere, folks.

The chances are incredibly small that anyone will be hit. Yet it happens.

This New Years Eve, for example:

• 6-year-old girl shot in head by stray bullet from 'celebratory gunfire'
• Stray bullet falls through roof during Fort Worth church service
• Raleigh woman identified who was hit by stray bullet during New Year's Eve
• 9-year-old Cleveland boy struck by stray bullet while watching TV
• Woman critical after being hit by stray bullet that went through second floor window New Years Eve

And it goes on from there:

https://news.google.com/search?q=stray bullet new year&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

If you are that knucklehead, stop doing it. If you hear someone doing it, call the police. It may not be their highest priority, but you might end up saving a life.

I love guns, I own guns, but I do not shoot guns in the air to celebrate New Years or Independence Day or whatever. It's stupid and wrong. If you think it's OK, tell me how you'd feel if one of the people above were your child or spouse or friend? Would you tell them it's OK, the chances were random and oh well? What if it was you who got hit?

 

[drop bear]

Having standards for gun ownership.

Crazy notion I know.

 

[Buka]

You know, Bill, I value your opinion on firearms highly. I don't know how many thousands and thousands of posts I've read over the last eight years, but one of my all time favorites was one you posted years ago. About when you were a kid and taking your rifle to school - warning to new readers, this is NOT what that connotes today.

If I ever find it I'll keep it, it was so good and so interesting. A really great piece of Americana.

You really should write a book about your life up until now. Had you done that when I first suggested it, it would probably be finished by now. The book, not your life.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

You know, Bill, I value your opinion on firearms highly. I don't know how many thousands and thousands of posts I've read over the last eight years, but one of my all time favorites was one you posted years ago. About when you were a kid and taking your rifle to school - warning to new readers, this is NOT what that connotes today.

If I ever find it I'll keep it, it was so good and so interesting. A really great piece of Americana.

You really should write a book about your life up until now. Had you done that when I first suggested it, it would probably be finished by now. The book, not your life.

Is this the one you were referring to?

Introducing New People To Shooting....

 

[Buka]

Is this the one you were referring to?

Introducing New People To Shooting....

Yes, that was the bad boy right there. I never would have found that, thanks for posting it again. I'm throwing that in a folder I've since started.

 

[Martial D]

Every New Years, I hear it. The guns going off to celebrate the end of the year. Sometimes it is fireworks, but many times it is high-powered rifle and pistol fire and shotguns. I'm pretty proficient with weapons and have a long history with them, so I'm familiar with how they sound.

Since I was a boy, I've heard of people being struck and killed by falling bullets, so I have never understood why people do this. Those bullets have to come down somewhere, folks.

The chances are incredibly small that anyone will be hit. Yet it happens.

This New Years Eve, for example:

• 6-year-old girl shot in head by stray bullet from 'celebratory gunfire'
• Stray bullet falls through roof during Fort Worth church service
• Raleigh woman identified who was hit by stray bullet during New Year's Eve
• 9-year-old Cleveland boy struck by stray bullet while watching TV
• Woman critical after being hit by stray bullet that went through second floor window New Years Eve

And it goes on from there:

https://news.google.com/search?q=stray bullet new year&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

If you are that knucklehead, stop doing it. If you hear someone doing it, call the police. It may not be their highest priority, but you might end up saving a life.

I love guns, I own guns, but I do not shoot guns in the air to celebrate New Years or Independence Day or whatever. It's stupid and wrong. If you think it's OK, tell me how you'd feel if one of the people above were your child or spouse or friend? Would you tell them it's OK, the chances were random and oh well? What if it was you who got hit?

One word.

Blanks.

 

[wab25]

I went back to the dojo last night, first time in the new year... Guess what we found right in the middle of the mat? A nine millimeter bullet and a bit of insulation from the ceiling. It wasn't there Saturday, but was there Wednesday when we went back to train. Now we have a hole in the ceiling to find and repair... And we are glad no one was in training or cleaning at the time.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Yikes. I grew up (and have always lived) in the Southeastern US. Guns are everywhere here. I've never heard anyone using them to celebrate - a foreign concept to me I wasn't aware actually happened in the US anymore.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

I went back to the dojo last night, first time in the new year... Guess what we found right in the middle of the mat? A nine millimeter bullet and a bit of insulation from the ceiling. It wasn't there Saturday, but was there Wednesday when we went back to train. Now we have a hole in the ceiling to find and repair... And we are glad no one was in training or cleaning at the time.

That's scary. So glad no one was hurt. But this is what makes me angry. You never find anyone who will admit to this - no one is going to come onto this thread and defend the practice, right? But so many people do it. They just don't admit to it. They know what they are doing is dangerous and wrong.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Yikes. I grew up (and have always lived) in the Southeastern US. Guns are everywhere here. I've never heard anyone using them to celebrate - a foreign concept to me I wasn't aware actually happened in the US anymore.

I have lived in many places in the USA. CO, CA, IL, IA, NE, WI, NM, NC, MI, and everywhere I hear guns being fired at midnight on New Years, always have. I've had a few people suggest that what I was hearing was fireworks and not gunfire. Yes, there are fireworks being set off too, but I spent too much time in the military and around guns in general to not know the difference in the way they sound, as does everyone who has been around both. Besides, falling 'fireworks' don't put bullet holes in people.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I have lived in many places in the USA. CO, CA, IL, IA, NE, WI, NM, NC, MI, and everywhere I hear guns being fired at midnight on New Years, always have. I've had a few people suggest that what I was hearing was fireworks and not gunfire. Yes, there are fireworks being set off too, but I spent too much time in the military and around guns in general to not know the difference in the way they sound, as does everyone who has been around both. Besides, falling 'fireworks' don't put bullet holes in people.

I hear guns around here on a regular basis, but never at the celebratory times. Fireworks sometimes, though those aren't legal for sale (can get them 30 minutes down the road across the state line). The only time I hear gunfire, it's target-shooting cadence, or an occasional lone shot (probably someone shooting a snake or even a hunter in nearby woods).

 

[Bill Mattocks]

I hear guns around here on a regular basis, but never at the celebratory times. Fireworks sometimes, though those aren't legal for sale (can get them 30 minutes down the road across the state line). The only time I hear gunfire, it's target-shooting cadence, or an occasional lone shot (probably someone shooting a snake or even a hunter in nearby woods).

I live a couple miles from a gun range, and the last place I lived was coincidentally also near a gun range, so hearing the cadence you mentioned is not at all unusual either. And not being averse to target shooting myself, it doesn't bother me in the least most times. I just hate hearing it at night during holidays, often accompanied by drunken 'wahoos' and other alcohol-driven exclamations about manhood and America, etc. Testosterone can be a good thing or a bad thing.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I live a couple miles from a gun range, and the last place I lived was coincidentally also near a gun range, so hearing the cadence you mentioned is not at all unusual either. And not being averse to target shooting myself, it doesn't bother me in the least most times. I just hate hearing it at night during holidays, often accompanied by drunken 'wahoos' and other alcohol-driven exclamations about manhood and America, etc. Testosterone can be a good thing or a bad thing.

Oddly, the area I live in, I thought I'd actually be at risk of that kind of behavior. There's a decidedly redneck area on one side of us. When I was working insurance, I was up there a few times. The people reminded me of neighbors I grew up with, but more isolated. That's where the target shooting sounds come from (they're on the side of a ridgeline, so have a quite safe direction to do that). But they aren't even the ones who do most of the fireworks, and I've never heard any drunken yelling from up there, either.

(For those who aren't familiar with the term "redneck" - I know Bill is because he's lived in parts of the country where they use the term regularly - it's usually used to denote a lack of education, backwards thinking, and often includes highly opinionated, outdated views.)

 

[CB Jones]

(For those who aren't familiar with the term "redneck" - I know Bill is because he's lived in parts of the country where they use the term regularly - it's usually used to denote a lack of education, backwards thinking, and often includes highly opinionated, outdated views.)

I like to explain it as.

Country folk are people that live in the rural areas and come from a rural culture

Rednecks are the trashy country folk.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

I like to explain it as.

Country folk are people that live in the rural areas and come from a rural culture

Rednecks are the trashy country folk.

It has come to have that definition, but others see it as a point of pride. Originally, it just meant people whose necks were literally red from sunburn because they worked in the fields all day. There's nothing dishonorable about honest hard work, and being a 'redneck' in that sense is a good thing, something to be proud of. However, in common parlance, the term has come to mean something more in lines with your description. Kind of a shame to be honest. Dishonorable people come from all walks of life.

 

[punisher73]

It has come to have that definition, but others see it as a point of pride. Originally, it just meant people whose necks were literally red from sunburn because they worked in the fields all day. There's nothing dishonorable about honest hard work, and being a 'redneck' in that sense is a good thing, something to be proud of. However, in common parlance, the term has come to mean something more in lines with your description. Kind of a shame to be honest. Dishonorable people come from all walks of life.

Definitely off topic, but I agree with you. To me, it's "white trash" no matter where you live either in the country of the city.

 

[PhotonGuy]

Every New Years, I hear it. The guns going off to celebrate the end of the year. Sometimes it is fireworks, but many times it is high-powered rifle and pistol fire and shotguns. I'm pretty proficient with weapons and have a long history with them, so I'm familiar with how they sound.

Since I was a boy, I've heard of people being struck and killed by falling bullets, so I have never understood why people do this. Those bullets have to come down somewhere, folks.

The chances are incredibly small that anyone will be hit. Yet it happens.

This New Years Eve, for example:

• 6-year-old girl shot in head by stray bullet from 'celebratory gunfire'
• Stray bullet falls through roof during Fort Worth church service
• Raleigh woman identified who was hit by stray bullet during New Year's Eve
• 9-year-old Cleveland boy struck by stray bullet while watching TV
• Woman critical after being hit by stray bullet that went through second floor window New Years Eve

And it goes on from there:

https://news.google.com/search?q=stray bullet new year&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

If you are that knucklehead, stop doing it. If you hear someone doing it, call the police. It may not be their highest priority, but you might end up saving a life.

I love guns, I own guns, but I do not shoot guns in the air to celebrate New Years or Independence Day or whatever. It's stupid and wrong. If you think it's OK, tell me how you'd feel if one of the people above were your child or spouse or friend? Would you tell them it's OK, the chances were random and oh well? What if it was you who got hit?

Its a very bad idea to shoot into the air for the reasons you mentioned but you could fire into a safe backstop so you know the round won't hit anything you don't want it to hit.

 

[drop bear]

Its a very bad idea to shoot into the air for the reasons you mentioned but you could fire into a safe backstop so you know the round won't hit anything you don't want it to hit.

Not really the same effect though.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

I like to explain it as.

Country folk are people that live in the rural areas and come from a rural culture

Rednecks are the trashy country folk.

Sadly, not where I live. Most people here view redneck as "anyone who lives south of or west of Pennsylvania, except California/Colorado/Washington". People make the assumption that there is no other type of country folk besides 'trashy country folk'. The term irks me, since it's making an assumption that they (meaning people where I live) are superior to 'rednecks' (which would include just about all of you to them) because of where they live. Same with 'white trash'.

 

[JR 137]

Sadly, not where I live. Most people here view redneck as "anyone who lives south of or west of Pennsylvania, except California/Colorado/Washington". People make the assumption that there is no other type of country folk besides 'trashy country folk'. The term irks me, since it's making an assumption that they (meaning people where I live) are superior to 'rednecks' (which would include just about all of you to them) because of where they live. Same with 'white trash'.

There’s only one other type of person from that region - hillbilly.

And you forgot Alaska in your except California, Washington, Colorado part. Eskimos aren’t hillbillies nor rednecks.

Sorry, I’m just having fun with it. Don’t take me seriously here.