Celebratory Bullet Fired On New Years, Misses Sleeping Children

[matcom]

<snip>

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Police said a celebratory bullet fired into the air minutes after the new year began crashed through a Lakeland roof just a few feet away from where three children slept.

Edward and Gail Darch found the bullet hole in the closet ceiling when they got up on New Year's Day. Their three grandchildren visiting from Canada -- ages nine, seven and three -- were sleeping in the room.

The .45-caliber slug pierced two roofs and the top of an electric skillet stored in a closet. It was stopped by the skillet's metal bottom.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said that, between fireworks and firearms, there are thousands of little explosions during New Year's Eve and the Fourth of July. Judd said firing a gun in the air to celebrate anything is an "act of insanity."

http://www.wftv.com/irresistible/10662592/detail.html

[Bullwinkle925]

1. I don't GET IT!!

Why in the hell fire a damned gun at the stroke of midnight in neighborhoods where (some) people have already gone to bed or are quietly watching the telly and toasting one another to a Happy New Year?
When did this become part of our New Year Celebration?
Never in my ahem (# inserted) years have I ever heard this until the past 5 years or so.
I hate Guns - I hate everything about them and I don't wish to hear them or the insane people who are jubilantly (drunkenly) hopping around outdoors shooting the damned things off.

There - off my chest and end of rant.

:mad:

[benEzra]

3. I'm a gun owner, and I agree with you...

that shooting guns in the air is a REALLY stupid idea. Whether celebratory, or warning-shot-like-I-saw-on-TV, or whatever. What goes up must come down, unless your gun can shoot a projectile faster than Mach 25...

[begin_within]

2. At first, I read your post as "Celebrity Bullet Fired On New Years, Misses Sleeping Children"

This is why we need firecrackers and fireworks on New Year's Eve - to eliminate the guns.