NYE Bullet Crashes through Roof

[n5wd]

I still keep seeing conflicting arguments on how much injury bullets fired "up into the air" can cause. Some folks are saying, "Duh, bullet falling out of the sky = hurt person on ground". Others are saying that the physics says differently unless the bullet is fired at a more "normal" angle.

How about some empirical evidence? In July, 1994, a friend of my wife - another teacher - was watching the July 4th fireworks near downtown Fort Worth when a bullet, apparently fired from some distance away, struck the friend's daughter, killing her. Since then, when I was working as a paramedic on an MICU, I worked on two victims of apparent celebratory-shootings who were injured, one very significantly, by falling bullets.

Then there's the case of KXAS-TV news staffer Kristen Campbell, attending her best friend's wedding in Houston in 2006, when a bullet smashed through the roof of the ballroom, into Kristen's arm, just as she was about to grab the wedding bouquet, in a through and through, falling onto the floor after doing its damage.

Believe it - falling bullets can seriously injure, and in some cases, kill a person.

Wayne

[Heartland Patriot]

WHOA! I think some of you guys are acting like I'm calling you out or something...not so. I personally would NEVER fire a gun into the air like that because it violates a gun safety rule, period. What I was getting at (I believe) was understood by jimlongley, but I'm just looking at it from a physics/math/ballistics sort of angle. I'm NOT the guy who fired any of those bullets into the air...so, go find THOSE people and jump on THEM.

[Keith B]

WHOA! I think some of you guys are acting like I'm calling you out or something...not so. I personally would NEVER fire a gun into the air like that because it violates a gun safety rule, period. What I was getting at (I believe) was understood by jimlongley, but I'm just looking at it from a physics/math/ballistics sort of angle. I'm NOT the guy who fired any of those bullets into the air...so, go find THOSE people and jump on THEM.

The angle will depend on the individual gun and ballistics. Bottom line, if the bullet is shot at a high enough angle, the energy pushing the projectile will bleed off and all that will be left is the weight of the bullet falling from the sky like it was dropped. If the angle is lower and the energy is still left in the bullet from being fired, then it will still have a VERY great chance of penetrating something and killing you. Just ask the woman who was in her RV at Texas Motor Speedway back in 2008 and got hit by a 50 BMG round that came through the roof, through her arm and lodged in the wall of the RV http://startelegram.typepad.com/crime_t ... -mans.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://texaschlforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=83&t=19948" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[n5wd]

WHOA! I think some of you guys are acting like I'm calling you out or something...not so. I personally would NEVER fire a gun into the air like that because it violates a gun safety rule, period. What I was getting at (I believe) was understood by jimlongley, but I'm just looking at it from a physics/math/ballistics sort of angle. I'm NOT the guy who fired any of those bullets into the air...so, go find THOSE people and jump on THEM.

Sorry if you took my post as "jumping on you" - merely pointing out the evidence that bullets fired up and into the air do, indeed, cause injury and sometimes death. This isn't something like the evolution debate where it's hard to prove. I won't even try to explain HOW it happens mathematically. Sometimes, understanding that an idea is a real bad one is enough.