Celebratory gunfire

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 150 and 250 feet per second.[15] A bullet traveling at only 61 m/s (200 feet per second) to 100 m/s (330 feet per second) 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. 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]

• Philippine Health Secretary Francisco Duque III noted the drop in stray bullet injuries, in that country, during the 2005 year-end holiday period – from 33 cases to 19.[22]
• The number of complaints regarding random shooting in Dallas, Texas, on New Year's Eve declined from approximately 1,000 in 1999 to 800 each in 2001 and 2002.[7]
• In early 2008, increased partisanship in Lebanon led to the practice of firing celebratory gunfire in support of politicians appearing on local television, leading to multiple deaths and to calls from these leaders to end the practice.[23]

• In the Republic of North Macedonia, a person found guilty of firing off a gun during celebrations faces a jail sentence of up to ten years.[6]
• In Italy, under art.703 of the Penal Code (Dangerous ignitions and explosions), a person found guilty of firing a gun without permission in an inhabited place or nearby, is sentenced to a fine of up to €103, while if they commit the act in a crowded place the sentence may go as high as up to a month in prison. The law also applies to fireworks, rockets, hot air balloons and, in general, "dangerous ignitions and explosions".[64]
• In Pakistan, section 144 of the Pakistan Penal Code is imposed to prevent aerial firing during celebrations if harm is caused, and an FIR may be registered against a person who does so. However, many cases of aerial firing go unreported.[3]
• In the United States, crime classifications vary from a misdemeanor to a felony in different states:
  • In Arizona, firing a gun into the air was raised from a misdemeanor to a felony by Shannon's law, in response to the death of a 14-year-old from a stray bullet in 1999.[65]
  • In California, discharging a firearm into the air is a felony punishable by three years in state prison. If the stray bullet kills someone, the shooter can be charged with murder.[66][67]
  • In Minnesota, it is illegal to discharge a firearm over a cemetery, or at or in a public transit vehicle. Additionally, local governments may regulate the discharge of a weapon within their jurisdictions.[65]
  • In Ohio, discharging a firearm or a deadly weapon in a public place is classified as disorderly conduct, a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a fine of up to $2,000.[68]
  • In Texas, random gunfire is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum one year in jail and $4,000 fine. Anyone who injures or kills someone with a stray bullet could face more serious felony charges.[7]
  • In Wisconsin, criminal charges for this type of offense range from "endangering safety by use of a dangerous weapon" to "reckless homicide" in the event of a death, with penalties ranging from nine months to 25 years in prison."[69]

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]

• Stray bullet
• Feu de joie
• 21-gun salute

• "Falling bullets: terminal velocities and penetration studies", by L. C. Haag, Wound Ballistics Conference, April 1994, Sacramento, California.

• UN Development Programme activity report
• Can a bullet fired into the air kill someone when it comes down? The Straight Dope
• Celebratory Gunfire: Good Idea or Not?
• 'Celebratory' shot kills groom
• Spreading the Word About Dangers of Celebratory Gunfire: Henry Louis Adams
• Minister Fighting to End Celebratory Gunfire