Happy New Years……

HAPPY NEW YEAR……

You read about it in the newspapers every year. People struck by bullets fired by people trying to celebrate the new year. I remember a few years back when a young girl in my city was struck in the head by a bullet fired 2 miles away. Yes, 2 miles away. Luckily she lived, but she still has a bullet lodged in her head.

What people don’t realize is that what goes up, must come down. Too many people drink a bit too much and decide to “make some noise” at midnight. What they don’t realize is that people are out and about at midnight. Kids in back yards banging pots together, people going in or out of houses, police officers, firefighters, and medical personnel responding to calls for help. All in the way of a “bullet coming down”.

Some think it is harmless if a gun is fired in the air. But when a gun is fired in the air, where do you think the bullet goes? It doesn’t disappear. It has to come down somewhere. Through a car top, a house roof, or injuring a person. And it comes down just as fast if not faster than just being fired out of a gun.

When I work a New Years Eve, me and most police officers head for the police station or an underpass at midnight due to the potential for danger from falling bullets. The calls usually start right around midnight for gunshots, and then shortly after, the calls for bullets coming through the roofs start.

I go to numerous calls where a bullet came through a roof, bounced off a wall and a night stand, then came to rest on the floor. People don’t realize that if that bullet struck a child instead of a night stand or wall, a small child could die.

I used to have a friend (before I was a cop) who every year, fired a rifle into a log in his backyard at midnight on New Years Eve. One year, I asked him how he would feel if the bullet ricochet away and struck one of his two sons watching, or if a stray bullet from someone doing the same thing a mile away struck one of his sons. He was silent for a moment and that was the last time that he ever fired his gun again for fun and “noise”.

Putting aside the safety issue, let’s talk about the lawful issue. Discharge of a firearm in city limits is against the law anyway, but firing a gun into the air in or a residential neighborhood, is considered a gross negligent manner. A FELONY! What some people consider harmless and fun, is a dangerous and serious crime.

You don’t want to spend New Years day sitting in a jail cell recovering from a hangover to find out later that you’re being charged with a Felony, or worse, responsible for an injury or death. Please don’t do something in an intoxicated state (or even sober) that you will regret later.

The earlier story of the young girl struck in the head by a bullet fired 2 miles away is true, and they finally did find the shooter who was prosecuted on several Felony charges. What may seem harmless at the time, could ruin your life or someone else’s life forever.

This New Years, leave the guns locked up. It could save a life!!!

Have a Happy New Year and a Safe Holiday Season,

NetCopsPSI