Last night, I'm trying to figure out why people in heavily populated areas think it is a good idea to fire off weapons into the air on New Year's Eve. I do this as I clearly hear the sound of semi-automatic weapons being fired over and over just blocks from my home near downtown Houston. It's bad enough that the guns are fired in the first place, but add to it the fact that more people are drunk on New Year's than any other night of the year and you have a disaster waiting to happen. I guess if you are in the country with very few people around, it's one thing. But, as they say, what comes up must come down. And speaking of disasters, an 18-year-old girl in southwest Houston was killed when a "celebration shot" came raining down on her last night. Now, she is dead and the man who fired the shot will very likely serve time for his idiotic decision to play with guns. If anyone can tell me what logical purpose it serves to fire a gun with live ammunition into the air on New Year's Eve, I'd like to hear it.
And this isn't the first time. I don't recall the details, but a few years ago, near Channelview I believe, a man killed his own daughter in the same manner.
give it up Behad, the guns are needed for huntin and protection, i mean how else can you be safe on NYE, i bet that girl who was killed didn't have a gun herself, see what happens when you don't have a gun
Because bastards like Charleton Heston glorify the **** out of it with no sympathy.... As the d!ck says himself: "From my cold dead hands." I hate guns.
Ricochet. Bullets have a tendency to ricochet off things that people sometimes don't think they can so even a ground shot isn't very safe. Why don't they just pop some good ol' fireworks instead?
I'd venture to say the majority of the mensas that fire guns into the air aren't exactly card carrying members of the NRA. I doubt if the guns they own are even legal.
Yeah. And it would probably be a bit more painful too..... Wait, what if you have a metal plate in your head, then you really wouldnt have to worry would you?
There was a CSI episode not to recently that involved someone firing a shot into the air and it killed someone when it came back down. Interesting episode and sad at the same time!
The reason i think people do it, just for the stupid fact to make some "noise" when the countdown turns to zero. Some idiots say that its alternatvie to fireworks since it is not allowed inside Houston city limits. I still dont see why fireworks are illegal inside of Houston in the first place, doesnt make sense to me.
I also live in the Heights but we partied in the Burbs last night with friends. We shot off a ton of fire works and I didn't hear any gun fire at all. I also thought about the chance if fireworks were legal in the limits there might be less gun fire on these occasions. I was glad not to be at home because of the gun fire we heard last NYE. While I'm one of those that has been called a "gunnut" in discussions on this board I find irresponisble gun ownership to be unacceptable... luckily risk of injury from these idiots is very minimal. What would the discussion be like if fireworks were legal and a person lost their life in a fire as a result or was seriously injured as a result setting off the fireworks? Now that I think about it I'm sure the number of injuries last night associated with fireworks was far greater nationwide than the injuries associated with guns. I could be wrong but I doubt it. I personally have seen a number of "accidents" associated with fireworks and have never seen any with guns and I've had extensive experiences with both my whole life. On a side note... if the world ever decays into anarchy I'm raiding the fire works stores. Some of the big ones you can buy off the shelf now days would make a great home defense system if mounted in an aimable contraption of some sort. 60+ exploding projectiles that would burn you like hell if they hit you all in a compact brick no larger than a car battery.
Since the NRA is also a strong proponent of gun safety, I doubt they are in favor of this kind of celebration. Fireworks are illegal, but so is firing a gun. People do it because they think it's fun to rebel. I celebrated new years at a friend's house in the heights, and there was constant gunfire all evening. A lot of it came from a neighbor's house, where the son of an HPD officer was celebrating with his family. We called -- and the police never came.