Celebratory gunfire is the shooting of a firearm into the air in celebration. It occurs in Russia, sometimes in parts of the Balkans, [1] the Middle East, South Asia, Latin America [ where? ], the United States, and Ethiopia, even where illegal. [2] [3] [4] [5]
Common occasions for celebratory gunfire include New Year's Day as well as religious holidays. [6] The practice sometimes results in random death and injury from stray bullets. Property damage is another result of celebratory gunfire; shattered windows and damaged roofs are sometimes found after such celebrations. [7]
Depending on the angle it is fired, the speed of a falling bullet changes. A bullet fired nearly vertically will lose the most speed, [8] usually falling at terminal velocity, which is much lower than its muzzle velocity. Despite this, people can still be injured or killed by bullets falling at this speed. If a bullet is fired at other angles, it maintains its angular ballistic trajectory and is far less likely to engage in tumbling motion; it therefore travels at speeds much higher than a bullet in free fall. Dense, small bullets achieve higher terminal velocities than lighter, larger bullets.
Between 1918 and 1920, [9] United States Army Ordnance Corps ' Julian Hatcher conducted experiments to determine the velocity of falling bullets, [10] [11] [12] [13] and calculated that .30 caliber rounds reach terminal velocities of 90 m/s (300 feet per second or 186 miles per hour). [13] [14] According to computer models, 9mm handgun rounds reach terminal velocities of between 45 and 75 m/s (150 and 250 feet per second or 100 and 170 miles per hour). [15] A bullet traveling at only 61 m/s (200 feet per second or 135 miles per hour) to 100 m/s (330 feet per second or 225 miles per hour) can penetrate human skin. [16]
Any gunfire can damage hearing of those nearby without ear protection, and blank rounds fired in an unsafe direction can cause injuries or death from muzzle blast at close range, as in the case of actor Jon-Erik Hexum. Birdshot fired from a shotgun disperses and loses energy much faster than slugs, buckshot, or bullets fired from rifles and pistols. Although potentially lethal for many yards at a low angle, fired at a high angle, the main risk of injury from falling "shot rain" is shot landing in the eyes and causing scratches, particularly to persons looking upwards without eye protection.
A Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that 80% of celebratory gunfire-related injuries in Puerto Rico, on New Year's Eve 2003 were to the head, feet, and shoulders. [17] In Puerto Rico, about seven people have died from celebratory gunfire on New Year's Eve in the last 20 years.[ citation needed ][ timeframe? ] The last one was in 2012. [18] Between the years 1985 and 1992, doctors at the King/Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, treated some 118 people for random falling-bullet injuries. Thirty-eight of them died. [19]
In 2005, the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) ran education campaigns on the dangers of celebratory gunfire in Serbia and Montenegro. [20] In Serbia, the campaign slogan was "every bullet that is fired up, must come down." [21]
The non-fiction U.S. cable television program MythBusters on the Discovery Channel covered this topic in Episode 50: "Bullets Fired Up" (original airdate: April 19, 2006). Special-effects experts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman conducted a series of experiments to answer the question: "Can celebratory gunfire kill when the bullets fall back to earth?"
Using pig carcasses, they worked out the terminal velocity of a falling bullet and had a mixed result, answering the question with all three of the show's possible outcomes: Confirmed, Plausible and Busted. [70] They tested falling bullets by firing them from both a handgun and a rifle, by firing them from an air gun designed to propel them at terminal velocity, and by dropping them in the desert from an instrumented balloon.
They found that while bullets traveling on a perfectly vertical trajectory tumble on the way down, creating turbulence that reduces terminal velocity below that which would kill, it was very difficult to fire a bullet in this near-ideal vertical trajectory. In practice, bullets were likely to remain spin-stabilized on a ballistic trajectory and fall at a potentially lethal terminal velocity. They also verified cases of actual deaths from falling bullets. [71]
Plastic bullet can refer to:
A firecracker is a small explosive device primarily designed to produce a large amount of noise, especially in the form of a loud bang, usually for celebration or entertainment; any visual effect is incidental to this goal. They have fuses, and are wrapped in a heavy paper casing to contain the explosive compound. Firecrackers, along with fireworks, originated in China.
Shannon's law refers to specific changes in Arizona statutes, enacted in 2000, making it a felony offense to discharge firearms randomly into the air.
A gunshot is a single discharge of a gun, typically a man-portable firearm, producing a visible flash, a powerful and loud shockwave and often chemical gunshot residue. The term can also refer to a ballistic wound caused by such a discharge.
A blank is a firearm cartridge that, when fired, does not shoot a projectile like a bullet or pellet, but generates a muzzle flash and an explosive sound like a normal gunshot would. Firearms may need to be modified to allow a blank to cycle the action, and the shooter experiences less recoil with a blank than with a live round. Blanks are often used in prop guns for shooting simulations that have no need for ballistic results, but still demand light and sound effects, such as in historical reenactments, special effects for theatre, movie and television productions, combat training, for signaling, and cowboy mounted shooting. Specialised blank cartridges are also used for their propellant force in fields as varied as construction, shooting sports, and fishing and general recreation.
The .44 Remington Magnum, also known as .44 Magnum or 10.9x33mmR, is a rimmed, large-bore cartridge originally designed for revolvers and quickly adopted for carbines and rifles. Despite the ".44" designation, guns chambered for the .44 Magnum round, its parent case, the .44 Special, and the .44 Special's parent case, the .44 Russian all use 0.429 in (10.9 mm) diameter bullets. The .44 Magnum is based on the .44 Special case but lengthened and loaded to higher pressures for greater velocity and energy.
Stopping power is the ability of a weapon – typically a ranged weapon such as a firearm – to cause a target to be incapacitated or immobilized. Stopping power contrasts with lethality in that it pertains only to a weapon's ability to make the target cease action, regardless of whether or not death ultimately occurs. Which ammunition cartridges have the greatest stopping power is a much-debated topic.
Tannerite is a brand of binary explosive targets used for firearms practice and sold in kit form. The targets comprise a combination of oxidizers and a fuel, primarily aluminium powder, that is supplied as two separate components that are mixed by the user. The combination is relatively stable when subjected to forces less severe than a high-velocity bullet impact. A hammer blow, the product being dropped, or impact from a low-velocity bullet or shotgun blast will not initiate a reaction. It is also designed to be non-flammable, although its explosion can ignite flammable material.
Concord Mills is a shopping mall located in Concord, North Carolina. The mall is in Cabarrus County, just a few hundred feet from the Mecklenburg County border and Charlotte city limits, and about 12 miles (19 km) from Uptown Charlotte. It is one of two malls in Concord, the other being Carolina Mall.
This is a summary of notable incidents that have taken place at various United Parks & Resorts-owned amusement parks, water parks or theme parks. This list is not intended to be a comprehensive list of every such event, but only those that have a significant impact on the parks or park operations, or are otherwise significantly newsworthy.
This is the Timeline of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in 2007.
The Santika Club fire was a fireworks accident and nightclub fire that occurred on Thursday 1 January 2009, in the Santika Club in Ekkamai, Watthana, Bangkok, where New Year celebrations were taking place. 67 people were killed and another 222 injured when fire swept through the club during the New Year's celebration as the band "Burn" was playing.
A stray bullet is a bullet that, after being fired from a gun, hits an unintended target. Such a shooting accident may occur due to missing a target when hunting or sport-shooting or celebrating weddings, as a result of accidental/negligent discharges, or during crossfire or celebratory gunfire.
The Battle at Springmartin was a series of gun battles in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 13–14 May 1972, as part of The Troubles. It involved the British Army, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), and the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).
On August 24, 2012, a gunman shot and killed a former co-worker outside the Empire State Building in New York City. Following the initial shooting, the gunman, 58-year-old Jeffrey T. Johnson, was fatally shot by police officers after raising his weapon at them. Nine bystanders were wounded by stray bullets fired by the officers and ricocheting debris, but none suffered life-threatening injuries.
Armando Martinez is a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 39, serving since 2005. Martinez is also a firefighter and paramedic. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg, Texas.
Basant is a spring time kite flying event during the Basant Panchami festival in the Punjab. It falls on Basant, also called Basant Panchami. According to the Punjabi calendar it is held on the fifth day of lunar month of Magha marking the start of spring.
Mass rioting and looting occurred in Chicago, Illinois in the immediate aftermath of the Chicago Bulls winning six NBA championships in the 1990s.
On June 27, 2022, at approximately 12:30 a.m., Akron, Ohio, police officers shot Jayland Walker, a 25-year-old American from Akron. Following a traffic stop and car chase, footage showed an officer saying that Walker’s car is slowing down, having reached speeds of more than 50 miles per hour (80 km/h) in residential neighborhoods. Seconds later, Walker, wearing a ski mask, exited the vehicle and began to flee on foot. Officers pursued on foot and fired more than 90 times at Walker. Autopsy results showed that Walker's body was hit by more than 46 bullets.