Celebratory gunfire

Celebratory gunfire (also called aerial firing or happy fire) is the shooting of a firearm into the air in celebration. It is culturally accepted in parts of the Balkans, the Middle East, the Central Asian region of Afghanistan, and the South Asian regions of Pakistan and Northern India. In regions such as Puerto Rico and other areas of the United States it is practiced illegally, especially on holidays like New Year's Eve.[1]

Common occasions for celebratory gunfire include New Year's Day as well as the religious holidays Christmas and Eid.[2] The practice may result in random death and injury from stray bullets. Property damage is sometimes another result of celebratory gunfire; shattered windows and damaged roofs are often found after such celebrations.[3]

Falling-bullet injuries

"Bullets are not greeting cards. Celebrate without firearms." From the IANSA Macedonian poster campaign, December 2005

Bullets fired into the air usually fall back with terminal velocities much lower than their muzzle velocity when they leave the barrel of a firearm. Nevertheless, people can be injured, sometimes fatally, when bullets discharged into the air fall back down to the ground. Bullets fired at angles less than vertical are more dangerous, as the bullet maintains its angular ballistic trajectory, is far less likely to engage in tumbling motion, and so travels at speeds much higher than a bullet in free fall.

A study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that 80% of celebratory gunfire-related injuries are to the head, feet, and shoulders.[4] In Puerto Rico, about two people die and about 25 more are injured each year from celebratory gunfire on New Year's Eve, the CDC says.[5] 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.[6]

Firearms expert Julian Hatcher studied falling bullets in the 1920s and calculated that .30 caliber rounds reach terminal velocities of 90 m/s (300 feet per second or 204 miles per hour).[7] A bullet traveling at only 61 m/s (200 feet per second) to 100 m/s (330 feet per second) can penetrate human skin.[8]

In 2005, the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) ran education campaigns on the dangers of celebratory gunfire in Serbia and Montenegro.[9] In Serbia, the campaign slogan was "every bullet that is fired up, must come down."[10]

Property damage

Bullets often lodge in roofs, causing minor damage that requires repair in most cases. Normally, the bullet will penetrate the roof surface through to the roof deck, leaving a hole where water may run into the building and cause a leak.[11]

Trends

Notable incidents

Middle East

United States

South Asia

Europe

South America

Penalties

Cultural references

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.[44] 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 a 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.[45]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Shaikh, Hassan Latif (29 June 2012). "Celebratory gunfire". Dawn. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 "Campaign in Macedonia raises awareness of dangers posed by gunfire (SETimes.com)". Retrieved 2007-08-01.
  3. 1 2 3 "New Year's Eve gunfire may bring jail time". United Press International. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  4. "New Year's Eve Injuries Caused by Celebratory Gunfire --- Puerto Rico, 2003". Retrieved 2007-07-31.
  5. 1 2 Abdul-Alim, Jamaal (2005-12-29). "JS Online: Hold the gunfire". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on 2007-02-08. Retrieved 2007-08-01.
  6. Incorvaia, A.N.; Poulos, D.M.; Jones, R.N.; Tschirhart, J.M. (2007-01-01). "Can a Falling Bullet Be Lethal at Terminal Velocity? Cardiac Injury Caused by a Celebratory Bullet". The Annals of Thoracic Surgery. 83 (1): 283–4. doi:10.1016/j.athoracsur.2006.04.046. PMID 17184680. Archived from the original (abstract) on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  7. Hatcher, Julian Sommerville (1962). Hatcher's Notebook. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. p. 514. ISBN 0-8117-0795-4.
  8. Stewart, Michael J. (2005). Head, Face and Neck Trauma: Comprehensive Management. New York: Thieme Medical Publishers. p. 189. ISBN 1-58890-308-7.
  9. "Shooting in the air: turning celebration into tragedy". International Action Network on Small Arms. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-07-31.
  10. "Serbs Told To Keep Guns Quiet On New Year's Eve – RADIO FREE EUROPE / RADIO LIBERTY". Retrieved 2007-08-01.
  11. "Professionals Topics Library : Roofs & Bullets". Archived from the original on 2007-08-17. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  12. Javellana-Santos, Julie. "3 Killed, Over 600 Injured in Philippine Year-End Revelry". Arab News. Retrieved 2007-08-01.
  13. 1 2 Ayed, Nahlah (2008-04-15). "Mideast Dispatches: Deadly merriment, the fallout from celebratory gunfire". CBC News. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
  14. Mohammed Zaatari (2014-04-07). "Sidon demands security after stray-bullet death". The Daily Star, Lebanon. Retrieved 2014-04-14.
  15. "Man killed by celebratory gunfire in Gaza". Ma'an News Agency. 22 November 2011.
  16. "Celebratory gunfire at Saudi wedding cuts cable, 23 electrocuted". Reuters. 2012-10-31. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
  17. "Celebratory fire kills Kuwaiti groom at wedding". AFP. 22 August 2012.
  18. "Jordanian King Goes to War Over Celebratory Gunfire". Green Prophet. 2010-08-20. Retrieved 2012-11-06.
  19. Burton, Randy (2007-07-31). "Raining bullets in the Middle East". The StarPhoenix. Archived from the original on 2007-12-06. Retrieved 2007-07-31.
  20. "Gunshots celebrate Iraq soccer win, leave 4 dead". Associated Press. AM New York. 2007-07-30. p. 9.
  21. "Soccer underdogs unite Iraqis". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2007-08-01.
  22. http://www.star-telegram.com/news/state/texas/article5292357.html
  23. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/02/us-usa-texas-death-idUSKBN0KB1B420150102
  24. http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/local/chesterfield/boy-shot-in-head-at-chesterfield-fireworks-celebration/article_95a28426-e549-11e2-a881-001a4bcf6878.html
  25. Rowe, Kellie (2012-07-08). "Student shot at fireworks show, died next morning". The State News. Retrieved 2013-06-06.
  26. "Falling Bullet Kills 4-Year-Old Boy In DeKalb". wsbtv.com. 2010-01-02. Retrieved 2012-01-13.
  27. "Stray bullet kills S Asian expat". BBC NEWS. 2005-12-31. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  28. Kilgannon, Corey (2005-12-31). "Soldier Charged in Shooting Death of Woman at Window". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  29. Meenan, Mick (2006-06-01). "Metro Briefing : New York: Queens: Ex-Private Gets 4 To 12 Years For Manslaughter". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  30. http://www.azcentral.com/specials/special14/articles/1015coldcase15.html
  31. "History Of The New Orleans Police Department". Archived from the original on February 10, 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
  32. "Mystery Bullet Kills Baseball Fan In Midst of Crowd at Polo Grounds". The New York Times. July 5, 1950. Retrieved September 2015. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  33. "Mystery Shot Kills Baseball Fan in Crowd of 49,000". Chicago Tribune. July 5, 1950. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
  34. "Boy Confesses Firing Shot into Polo Grounds". The Day (New London). July 8, 1950. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
  35. "Sadhvi Deva Thakur booked as celebratory firing kills woman". Indian Express.
  36. "11 Dead At Pakistani Kite Festival, Metal Kite Strings, Stray Celebratory Gunfire Claim Lives At Annual Event, More Than 100 Injured". CBS News. 2007-02-26. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  37. Longmore, Thomas (1895). Gunshot Injuries, Their History, Characteristic Features, Complications, and General Treatment. Longmans, Green.
  38. "Celebratory gunfire kills woman". IOL News. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  39. "Bala perdida mata a una niña de tres años". Retrieved 2012-12-27.
  40. 1 2 "Celebratory Gunfire". Citizens For A Safer Minnesota. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
  41. "4th of July Gunfire Reduction Program". Official web site of the Los Angeles Police Department. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  42. "New Years' Eve Gunfire Can Be Deadly". MyMotherLode.com News. Clarke Broadcasting Corporation. 2002-12-31. Archived from the original on 2006-11-30.
  43. "WTAW News Talk 1620 – News Archives". Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  44. "Discovery Channel :: Mythbusters: Episode Guide". StarPhoenix. CanWest Interactive. Archived from the original on 2007-08-23. Retrieved 2007-07-31.
  45. "Annotated Mythbusters: Episode 50: Bullets Fired Up, Vodka Myths III". Retrieved 2007-08-01.

Further reading

External links

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