New Year's Eve Gunshots

**DetroitVideoDaily** · December-30-11, 03:07 PM

Does anyone know when this unfortunate tradition of shooting off guns on New Year's Eve started? Also is this something that occurs city wide? My guess is yes, but I hope I'm wrong.
-DVD

**jerrytimes** · December-30-11, 03:08 PM

It happens in the burbs too, just not as much.

**Ltdave** · December-30-11, 03:20 PM

i remember it happening as far as back as 1973 when i was 8. of course it probably goes back even farther than that but you make it sound like its a brand new occurance and only in the 'bad' part of town...

ever seen any video clips of the Arabs firing AKs in the sky in celebration of some martyd shiite head? been going on long before the D started it...

**lilpup** · December-30-11, 03:25 PM

If anyone really feels the compulsion to do this use blanks, please!

(maybe distributing blanks should be a small part of some discouragement/minimalization effort)

**DetroitVideoDaily** · December-30-11, 03:46 PM

@Ltdave sorry not my intention at all to suggest it is a new occurrence or happens only in the D. Yeah, seen some of the clips you reference. A friend recently told me that parts of Mexico celebrate New Year's eve by shooting guns off too.

More curious as to when this started in Detroit. Thanks for your reference, at least since 1973

I've only lived in one area of Detroit, so I was interested if it takes place elsewhere in the city. Just know what I hear

and some years it's worse...
-DVD

**detroitsgwenivere** · December-30-11, 04:21 PM

According to "The Detroit Almanac": " Detroiters fired weapons into the air to greet the 20th century, which they celebrated Jan 1, 1901."

**Ltdave** · December-30-11, 09:41 PM

we pick up close to 2 dozen spent bullets off the plant roof starting in about 2 weeks...

**EastsideAl** · December-30-11, 10:44 PM

I certainly remember it happening back into the late '60s, but it definitely got much worse with the increasing over-arming of Detroiters and the vogue for automatic weapons in the '80s. On the eastside, especially after a bullet came flying through one of our upstairs windows one New Years Eve, we always hit the floor around 11:45 and celebrated while laying low.

**Ravine** · December-30-11, 11:10 PM

Originally Posted by Ltdave

i remember it happening as far as back as 1973 when i was 8. of course it probably goes back even farther than that but you make it sound like its a brand new occurance and only in the 'bad' part of town...

ever seen any video clips of the Arabs firing AKs in the sky in celebration of some martyd shiite head? been going on long before the D started it...

I think you may have inferred waaaaay more than DVD implied.

**laphoque** · December-31-11, 02:37 AM

My uncle said this celebratory fire happens in Chicago too.

**royce** · December-31-11, 03:16 AM

I remember seeing a movie on Dillinger and in it he and his other ganster friends were shooting machine guns into the air to celebrate the New Year. Also, I visited relatives in Chicago during New Year's Eve and people were shooting guns there too. Ironically, I just saw an episode of Everybody Hates Chris (Rock) a few hours ago and in it Chris' mother is seen stacking bags of rice in the window of their apartment to prepare for any stray bullets that might come through it during New Year's Eve in NYC in 1986/87. Sure enough, when the clock struck midnight, the guns started firing, the family was laid out on the floor watching TV, and the bullets were coming through the apartment window. I was surprised to see this depicted in NYC, but then I remembered being with my parents in my childhood home on the east side of Detroit and laying on the floor at midnight, waiting for the gun fire to stop. Clearly, not just a Detroit thing.

**Brock7** · January-03-12, 03:04 PM

I've lived in northeast Detroit since the mid fifties. I was never aware of the practice of firing guns until...I'm not really sure, but maybe the late 80's or 90's. When we were kids we might go out on the porch and bang pots and pans and maybe hear some firecrackers or bottle rockets.

**48091** · January-03-12, 05:55 PM

WJBK had a story about an ambulance that broke down at midnight and was stuck in gunfire. It sounded like Vietnam.

Warren also has this problem, but nothing like what I saw on WJBK.

When I grew up in Clawson I never heard any gunshots.

**Malcove Magnesia** · January-05-12, 08:47 AM

Yep. Here is the story you were talking about.

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news...ar-20120103-ms

Hilarious, if it weren't scary for the dudes in the broken down ambulance.

**fastcarsandfreedom** · January-05-12, 08:59 AM

I live on the GPW / GPF border and clearly could hear the gunfire at midnight. I'm not saying the gunfire was in Detroit, very well could have been in the Pointes, but it definitely was coming from the general direction of Moross Road.

**Dexlin** · January-06-12, 04:52 AM

What I've always heard is that this has been a tradition in the South in particular for as long as this has been a country. There were huge migrations from the South up to Detroit, so it's not really a surprise it'd be pretty prevelent in the metro, particularly the more Southerners that moved up to the city.

**Zacha341** · December-30-12, 08:25 AM

Will there be more or less this year? Any guesses?

**p69rrh51** · December-30-12, 09:40 AM

Anyone who wants to hear what a war zone sounds like head to eastside Monday evening.

**DetroitVideoDaily** · December-30-12, 09:57 AM

I'm hoping less. It seems like it's decreased in my neighborhood since the early to mid 2000s. Last year was down from the previous year. Less automatic gunfire the last several years in general.
-DVD

**Zacha341** · December-30-12, 10:11 AM

Hah! The law-abiding citizens should be saving their ammo...

...

Originally Posted by p69rrh51

Anyone who wants to hear what a war zone sounds like head to eastside Monday evening.

**gazhekwe** · December-30-12, 10:20 AM

I live just north of Detroit. For the most part, the gunfire is south of us, but we had someone in our area with an automatic for a couple years maybe five years ago. One year, he was pulling this magical weapon from his pocket and shot himself in the lower regions. We have not heard that gun since. Someone a good ways east has what sounds like a buffalo gun. We go out and bang on pots, hoping we don't get hit by some errant lead.

**Wheels** · December-30-12, 10:31 AM

Based on the recent surge in semi automatic weapon sales I would think there may be many new toys to play with this New Years Eve.

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/201...712289818/1007

**cla1945** · December-30-12, 10:38 AM

Originally Posted by Brock7

I've lived in northeast Detroit since the mid fifties. I was never aware of the practice of firing guns until...I'm not really sure, but maybe the late 80's or 90's. When we were kids we might go out on the porch and bang pots and pans and maybe hear some firecrackers or bottle rockets.

Lived in the Brock 7 Mile area from 1967 to 1993. I can't remember hearing the gunfire until the 80's.