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

[Detroitej72]

I was at the Cass Café at midnight, and any gunfire was defiantly off in the distance. By the same token, when I was in Madison Heights last year, there was gun shots just down the street. Anyone who says its "just those people in Detroit" need to get a clue.

By the way, at the turn of the 19th century, the mayor of Detroit appealed to the people to stop the silly tradition of shooting your guns off at midnight. It seems the more things change, the more they stay the same.

[Jimaz]

... 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....

Right. There's that whole terminal velocity thing but I wouldn't bet my life on that with a dense, aerodynamic chunk of lead!

[Downrivergal]

When I was a kid, I would usually stay new years eve with my great grandparents in Delray. Gramps, who was from Kentucky, would fire off a few rounds with his old rifle, called it tradition. Nevertheless, once night fell I was off the couch and away from the windows. Nanny would lay a blanket on the floor and I would have a picnic dinner on the blanket, in my jammies surrounded by books and pillows and watching Dick Clark. i thought it was just fun, looking back I realize they were just trying to keep me out of the line of fire