There’s a long and idiotic tradition of firing guns into the air to celebrate the change of the calendar. It’s a blatant violation of Jeff Cooper’s 4th rule of gun safety, knowing your target and what’s behind it. The bullet can come down almost anywhere.
Out in the country the likelihood of that projectile hitting something of value is relatively low, but the probability increases exponentially when you get into an urban area. In cities like Detroit, it’s been a persistent annual problem. One woman was sent to the hospital this past New Years’ when a stray bullet fired into the air somewhere near downtown Austin struck her in the leg.
Victoria Rocha, 35, was transported to University Medical Center Brackenridge with a gunshot wound to her leg.
Rocha tells KXAN she and her fiance had just parked minutes before and walked down to 6th and Brazos. She sat down on a bench across from the Driskill Hotel to rest her feet, and called her son at 12:03 a.m. to wish him a Happy New Year. …
Austin Travis County EMS rushed her to the hospital where Rocha says doctors removed a 45 caliber bullet that had traveled from the front of her left thigh to the back.
Gun ownership is a constitutionally protected civil right, but it also comes with responsibility. Incidents like this give anti-gunners ammunition (so to speak) for their claims that private gun ownership is simply too dangerous for civilians. So please, celebrate responsibly. And don’t fire a gun into the air, especially in the middle of a densely populated city.