Detroit leaders urge an end to celebratory New Year's Eve gunfire

**Goose** · December-30-10, 10:11 PM

i think the show myth busters did a show once on this, fired guns up in the air, tried to see the damage to things once they came down, were trying to bust the myth about being killed by a falling bullet

as i recall the conclusion was that any bullet shot in any close to straight up trajectory would possibly cause bruising or a cut if it hit someone on the way down but would be very very unlikely to cause death

my guess is that is a death actually had occured on new years from celebratory gun blasts it was from people shooting them to the horizon and not up.... [[think about it, look at the videos from the middle east with thousands of people firing weapons up in the air, no one drops dead).....

haven't done it in years, but i remember firing a shot gun at new years, it was always up and into a large oak tree.......

**carlscomputers** · December-30-10, 11:35 PM

Originally Posted by milesdriven

The NRA should give out free blanks the week before NYE, then everyone can blow off hundreds of rounds without anyone getting hurt.

When I sold guns years ago, I tried to implement a trade live rounds for blanks to fire off on New Years Eve program, needless to say, it never caught on!?

**13074Glenfield** · December-31-10, 12:58 PM

Originally Posted by milesdriven

The NRA should give out free blanks the week before NYE, then everyone can blow off hundreds of rounds without anyone getting hurt.

I kind of doubt that the people shooting on NYE in Detroit are NRA members.

**reddog289** · January-01-11, 02:04 AM

I live in the Burbs, Heard the pops bout 11:50 pm, There seemed to have not been as many as the last 2, 3 years I have been here. Lots of Cheering though. More loud yelling then anything.

Ravine · January-01-11, 02:21 AM

Pretty good, over here in 48227, tonight. Some very loud booming shit, but only for about five minutes, and that was it. Nice.

Of course, every year, some clown who started drinking at 10:30-- A.M.-- and slept through The Big Moment will jerk awake at around 2:30 A.M. and, refusing to admit having missed out, will insist on heading outside with his rifle.

Actually, he's just about due, right now. How can a guy whose head must be splitting endure the sound of a shotgun or rifle?

**DetroitPlanner** · January-01-11, 08:27 AM

Detroit leaders should be doing way more than just asking people not to shoot off weaponry! If they want this stopped they should allocate resources to start going after and prosecuting those who fire these weapons.

Last year the Bumpuses down the street were all hammered blowing thier shotguns in the air. I called the cops and they acted like they did not have the time of day or resources to go after them.

**MikeM** · January-01-11, 09:37 AM

Maybe it was the mild weather, but I noticed a lot more gunfire in the hours before midnight than previous years. How it sounded from the 48236:

http://www.zshare.net/audio/84624256031350f9/

FoxyScholar10 · January-01-11, 10:49 AM

Walking into church on the west side [[48204) around 10:00 p.m. sounded like [[insert name of Middle East warzone here). Seriously? Sigh....

Left church about 1:30 p.m. Silence. Whew....

**canuck** · January-02-11, 10:49 AM

Originally Posted by MikeM

Maybe it was the mild weather, but I noticed a lot more gunfire in the hours before midnight than previous years. How it sounded from the 48236:

http://www.zshare.net/audio/84624256031350f9/

Hey Mike, I thought Beyrouth was kind of quiet these days man! Sheesh that sounds more like Detroit!?

Seriously, did you get this all from standing on your front porch in GPF or GPS? Where did the shooting emanate from, Harper Woods? That is amazing, really. It's a gret day for the Ammunitions Manufacturers Association of America.

**MikeM** · January-02-11, 11:34 AM

Sitting on my back patio in GPW, facing southwest. Most of it was from Detroit, maybe a bit from Harper Woods. Like the 4th of July, the shooting starts as the sun sets and picks up as the night goes on. Some of the closest and most intense shooting happened an hour or so before midnight. Sounded like it came from the Harper-Moross intersection; I think a couple of families were trying to out do each other.

bartock · January-02-11, 11:39 AM

Originally Posted by canuck

Hey Mike, I thought Beyrouth was kind of quiet these days man! Sheesh that sounds more like Detroit!?

Seriously, did you get this all from standing on your front porch in GPF or GPS? Where did the shooting emanate from, Harper Woods? That is amazing, really. It's a gret day for the Ammunitions Manufacturers Association of America.

I live in 48225 Harper Woods and it sounded just as bad and it did start early. My wife and I came home from taking the kids to the movies at 5:00 p.m. and we could already hear it intermittently. It was the most gunfire we'd heard on NYE in 8 years of being in 48225. From 11 p to 1 a it literally did not cease for any period of time. From the Vernier/Mack area, the gunfire and those strange explosions [[never heard so many before...and they were not M-80s) were from the west and southwest. The sounds were closer this year also, so I do believe plenty came from Harper Woods and Eastpointe.

Nice recording, MikeM. It is hard for people to believe until they hear it.

**leland_palmer** · January-02-11, 11:41 AM

Detroitfunk has in interesting NYE soundtrack as well. Granted there are a few fireworks mixed in, but it is pretty disgusting. Welcome to the front line!

**BrushStart** · January-02-11, 11:44 AM

Wow. Yeah, I have a hard time believing that, but I'm not doubting that it is true. I really didn't hear anything like that downtown and I was outside most of the night. I did hear a few shots in the distance around 3:30 am, but that's it. I didn't hear any shots at the ball drop either.

**canuck** · January-02-11, 12:06 PM

Speechless.

**Blueidone** · January-02-11, 12:11 PM

We live in Belleville...heard gunfire beginning at about 10:30pm and it continued on until well after midnight. Our living room wall is all glass and we were a little nervous about stray bullets. With the way the buildings are situated here, and the echo factor, it was hard to tell which direction it was coming from.

I can understand some fireworks maybe...some sparklers and firecraker-type stuff. I do NOT understand having to shoot off live ammunition when there are other humans within gunshot range.

**canuck** · January-02-11, 12:19 PM

I'm thinking there must be a way of turning this event into an organized "Tourist Detraction".

**English** · January-02-11, 12:38 PM

A stupid custom that stupid people perpetuate...

**oldredfordette** · January-02-11, 01:32 PM

I have been in Livonia for NYE and witnessed guests at the party run outside at midnight with their semi-automatics to shoot them off. I have heard it in Southfield, Detroit and Grosse Pointe. You gun lovers can love your guns all you want, this custom is just plain nuts.

**hogz** · January-02-11, 02:45 PM

hey mikem, your sound file is down. can you please put it back up? thank you

**Fnemecek** · January-02-11, 03:20 PM

Originally Posted by BrushStart

Wow. Yeah, I have a hard time believing that, but I'm not doubting that it is true. I really didn't hear anything like that downtown and I was outside most of the night.

Well, now you know why living downtown is sometimes referred to living in Disneyland. It's very different from other parts of Detroit.

**BrushStart** · January-02-11, 04:42 PM

Originally Posted by Fnemecek

Well, now you know why living downtown is sometimes referred to living in Disneyland. It's very different from other parts of Detroit.

Not sure about it being "Disneyland," but you're right that not all of Detroit is the same. There are good areas and bad. South Side Chicago is also nothing like "the Loop" but I wouldn't call that "Disneyland" either. Just a different part of the city.

DetroitDad · January-02-11, 11:30 PM

I heard nothing but crickets, in my little corner of the City.... yet again.

**MikeM** · January-06-11, 11:24 AM

Originally Posted by hogz

hey mikem, your sound file is down. can you please put it back up? thank you

http://www.zshare.net/audio/84624256031350f9/

Still works for me.

**Danny** · January-06-11, 02:47 PM

There's nothing we can do to stop the DEADLY TRADITION of shooting guns at New Year's Eve. Just do what Bert the Turtle do " DUCK AND COVER!"

**fryar** · January-06-11, 07:17 PM

Originally Posted by evergreen

It's a rural southern custom ...

Thank you for that semblance of a way to make sense of this thread.

Look, I read through that whole page, linked to above, on the Mythbusters episode. They're, like, running around shooting guns into balistics gel and such, and didn't prove or disprove anything. As I recall, objects in an upward trajectory decrease their upward speed at a rate of 1/2gt^2 [[high school, anyone?). The speed of travel along any other axis has no effect on this, as any such travel is not affected by gravity. Once the trajectory along the up-down axis has reversed, the object accelerates back down to the earth at a rate of 1/2gt^2. Ergo, by the time the bullet comes back down to earth, it is traveling at precisely the same speed at which it left the barrel.

This is all in a vacuum, of course. In real life, I suppose the air provides some friction, slowing the bullet's descent speed. Still sounds pretty deadly to me, at least in a vacuum. I should think that even with the friction provided by the air, it should be something less than a pleasant experience to have that drop on your head.

Probably due to my shortage of experience with and "feel" for guns, and given what I think is the 9th-grade logic above, I utterly fail to see why it is fine to just shoot a gun off into the air. I shall endeavor to be more of a hick going forward in order to correct this flaw.

Detroit might not be worth saving after all.

Originally Posted by oldredfordette

I have been in Livonia for NYE and witnessed guests at the party run outside at midnight with their semi-automatics to shoot them off. I have heard it in Southfield, Detroit and Grosse Pointe.

And I mean metro.