Idiots with guns

[redhawker]

This ticks me off to no end. I'm sitting here in the house and can hear several yahoos in the immediate area firing various firearms into the air (I assume into the air anyway). I know this is Independence Day and part of what we celebrate, besides our independence from England, is our firearms freedom (while we still have some of it left) but this type of irresponsible behavior is what contributes to those rights being slowly taken away. One of the reason's I'm not onside is this crap as I don't feel safe out there while this is going on. I know that's a long shot to get hit by a falling bullet but it can, and has, happened. Maybe it would be different if I was out in the middle of nowhere with no people around, I might (just might) even do it myself then, but in a urban setting, no way. With every shot I hear I can feel just that much more of my liberty slipping away because of these jerks.

Or am I off base here.

 

[sfhogman]

You're not off base at all. Jerks like those are worse than gungrabbers.

 

[SamV]

Are you absolutely sure it is gunfire? My neighborhood sounds like a warzone. A lot of times I wonder if it is gunfire but when I check out the neighbors, I find that it is not. Sure sounds like a busy day at the range though. Sadly, on the non holidays, I have heard gunfire and sirens late at night. Changing neighborhood.

 

[exavid]

We've had episodes here on Independence day too. Seems like there are always a few brain dead people who are determined to prove the liberals are right about gun rights. Last year there was a fool near here who took his bow out and shot it straight up. It came down and hit a car in the hood. When the police found this jackass he said, "I just wanted to see if would shoot over the tree in my yard. I only wish the arrow had come down on top of his head. There's no way to educate these morons, they should all be housed far away from normal folks.

 

[737tdi]

redhawker: You think that is bad. We will find numerous bullets on the ramp at work tomorrow and this is a commercial airport. You can't imagine the number we have found over the last few years. Dallas Love Field Airport is not in the greatest of neighbor"hoods" but good grief. I am really surprised that over the last 26 years of working there that no one has been hurt. Stay safe.


Karl

 

[Mega Twin]

My son lives in Memphis.
He said gunfire was a common ocurrance,just ramped up for the 4th.

 

[coach]

I wouldn't fire live ammo into the air, but I have shot blanks to make a little noise. Somehow I doubt if most people ran out to buy a box of blanks.

 

[vito]

Just as the freedom of speech is used by idiots to say idiotic things, the freedom to keep and bare arms will be used by some to do stupid and irresponsible thngs. How would you prevent these yahoos from doing what they did? I guess we could severely limit the right to own guns to only the responsible people, and of course it would be the government to determine who is responsible and who isn't. Sort of like the "may issue" states where the local sheriff or chief of police gets to decide who is fit to own a gun and who isn't. All we an do is set a good example and teach as many other people as we can about gun safety and responsibility and then hope for the best. Giving freedom to the people means accepting that some will abuse or misuse that freedom.

 

[gramps]

I am one of those who shoots my shotgun in the air with birdshot in lieu of fireworks. I live 800 feet off the road, my nearest neighbor is at least 900 feet away.
gramps

 

[Busterswoodshop]

In Arizona we have what is called " Shannon's Law " .
Shooting a gun in the air randomly is a felony.
It was named after a 14 year old girl that was hit and killed by a random bullet fired into the air.

 

[m657]

This year was the very first 4th of July I have gone to bed without hearing any gunfire locally.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

In the last couple of years we have had several people hit by falling bullets while they were outside downtown or at the beach celebrating the 4th of July. One girl was seriously injured when the bullet entered near her clavicle.

 

[GA Cracker]

Hopefully they are not shooting up in the air. My LEO cousin in Macon, GA was on duty a couple of years ago for New Year's Eve. A 40 cal bullet that was fired in the air came down and went through the vest opening behind his neck and ended up lodged between his body and his vest. Left a trail and bruising but didn't break the skin.
Jim Luke's mother was hit in the side and the bullet penetrated her side while she was hanging clothes on the clothes line. This would have been around 65 or 66 when we were 5 or 6 years old.

 

[contender]

Irresponsible firearm handling is not just on the 4th,,, it's daily. It's just more frequent on the 4th. If these stupid talking heads in the media would discuss SAFETY of firearms like they preach with fireworks, it might help a little.
Yet we still have injuries & such with both.
News story I saw a few moments ago was about a 9 yr old girl injured with illegal fireworks.
Several years ago, some morons at a gun range fired over the berm, and the 7.62x39 bullet killed a girl in Carowinds amusement park about 1/2 mile away.
Stupidity comes in all forms, at all times.
Education can prevent such stuff.

If the media & the education system would get on the bandwagon & preach more about the safe uses of such stuff, and go back to requiring Hunter Safety in schools, or,,,, "gasp",,, teach a firearms safety class, we'd see a reduction in injuries & death.
This was proven by the introduction & eventual mandatory education required to get a hunting license. Hunter Safety classes have proven to reduce the number of accidents by hunters to themselves & others.
Idiots are everywhere,,, but making firearm safety a mandatory class in school can & would reduce a lot of injuries & deaths.

 

[blume357]

As I've said here and in other places more than once... Gun Safety should be mandatory in schools. Not an elective but mandatory every couple of years at the least.

 

[LDM]

Had a Darwin Award nominee here last week. Had a couple of loaded pistols rattling around loose in a backpack on the seat of his car. Took his car in for service at a local dealership. Snatched up the backpack...BANG! Got one in the gut. Succumbed that night. Thankfully, no one else was involved. As Ron White says, "You can't fix stupid!" Just pray there's no collateral damage.

 

[daveg.inkc]

My son in law is a fireman and works on ambulance crew in Kansas City. I get to hear about firework accidents. Their term is "De-Gloved" when a fool has m-80 go off and remove digits. I read today about a Pyro*tech wanna be lighting a wrapped bundle of sparklers. Lost his eyes and part of one leg A woman in Greely, Iowa died after a homemade cannon blew apart and hit her in head. No Proof mark was on cannon

 

[ProfessorWes]

Didn't notice any gunfire last night. Now OTOH, when I was living in Independence - suburban KC - up until a couple of years ago, I had idiots in my own apartment complex who were shooting guns off on Fourth of July and New Year's Eve, regular as clockwork.

Have I mentioned lately how relieved I am to be out of the city and back home in the Ozarks? Whew. :wink:

 

[bigbob]

Yep, here by Sun City AZ, we have a Trailer/DRUG park that had some idiot empting two mags on a 40 cal, I think, then he went in and had some more Margaritas Nothing new

 

[CGDustDevil]

Irresponsible firearm handling is not just on the 4th,,, it's daily. It's just more frequent on the 4th. If these stupid talking heads in the media would discuss SAFETY of firearms like they preach with fireworks, it might help a little.
Yet we still have injuries & such with both.
News story I saw a few moments ago was about a 9 yr old girl injured with illegal fireworks.
Several years ago, some morons at a gun range fired over the berm, and the 7.62x39 bullet killed a girl in Carowinds amusement park about 1/2 mile away.
Stupidity comes in all forms, at all times.
Education can prevent such stuff.

If the media & the education system would get on the bandwagon & preach more about the safe uses of such stuff, and go back to requiring Hunter Safety in schools, or,,,, "gasp",,, teach a firearms safety class, we'd see a reduction in injuries & death.
This was proven by the introduction & eventual mandatory education required to get a hunting license. Hunter Safety classes have proven to reduce the number of accidents by hunters to themselves & others.
Idiots are everywhere,,, but making firearm safety a mandatory class in school can & would reduce a lot of injuries & deaths.

Which is precisely why they don't want firearms safety in school. It would be like teaching creationism. Conflicts with the agenda, doncha know...

 

[contender]

CGDD,,, I do understand. Actually educating the kids does go against making them sheeple.

What actually makes me chuckle, AND scares me is the internet. See, they use it, and demand "free speech." Yet, with it,,, we can freely work to educate people, prove them wrong, and in general peaceably fight their agenda. I laugh because we can,,, yet fear what they will do to control the internet & free speech by everyone except "them."

 

[Colonialgirl]

In the last couple of years we have had several people hit by falling bullets while they were outside downtown or at the beach celebrating the 4th of July. One girl was seriously injured when the bullet entered near her clavicle.

Aint even gonna guess which area that occurred and who the shooters were knowing that area.

 

[Rei40c]

I may be wrong on this but I believe I can tell the difference between fireworks and gunshots. Many times both last year and this year I'm sure some of what I heard was gunfire. Not only from the sound but the well known tempo of a newer shooter firing as fast as they can that I've heard on the range so often. Which is not really very fast.

Also these sounds tend to come in 8-10 round bursts which is what I assume many times to be someone emptying the magazine on a common carry sized pistol that tends to hold about that many. Often without any follow up "fireworks" from that particular direction. This year the majority of those came from a bad neighborhood near me.

 

[NixieTube]

A recent tragedy due to mutually-enabled idiocy here in my backyard. A good young man's promising life obliterated in an instant and the other's life damaged forever. Supply your own adjectives and epithets.

"The 24-year-old firefighter and another man were drinking and tossing a gun back and forth, officials say."

http://patch.com/massachusetts/stoneham/firefighter-shot-dead-stoneham

 

[Jimbo357mag]

My wife reminded me today of a neighbor we had when we lived in a different neighborhood. He would get out his gun and shoot off a few rounds every holiday. Then onetime another neighbor got a bigger gun and shot off a few rounds after him. Not to be outdone the first neighbor came out with a shotgun and blasted away clearing the air as to who had the most firepower.

 

[Muley Gil]

I worked as a LEO for a medium sized city near Birmingham, Alabama. Had a part-time job working in a gun shop before going to work on evening shift. During the week leading up to New Year's Eve, lots of people would come in wanting to buy ammo. When asked about hollow points, etc, most would just say, " I just need something to shoot on New Year's." Sold a lot of FMJ 9mm that week.

December 31st, 1999 was Y2K. The entire police department was working that night, as was the fire department and the public works folks. I had a reserve officer working with me that night. When midnight approached, we went to a local bank and parked under small roof that sheltered the drive in window.

When midnight struck, I swear before All Mighty God that you could have tape recorded the sound of all of the gunfire going off and substituted that tape for the sound track of "Saving Pvt Ryan"!!!!!!!!!!!

Most of us went off duty at 3 AM. When the day shift came back on duty, they had a bunch of reports to write concerning bullet holes in roofs and in vehicles.

 

[usmc6433-6437]

This ticks me off to no end. I'm sitting here in the house and can hear several yahoos in the immediate area firing various firearms into the air (I assume into the air anyway). I know this is Independence Day and part of what we celebrate, besides our independence from England, is our firearms freedom (while we still have some of it left) but this type of irresponsible behavior is what contributes to those rights being slowly taken away. One of the reason's I'm not onside is this crap as I don't feel safe out there while this is going on. I know that's a long shot to get hit by a falling bullet but it can, and has, happened. Maybe it would be different if I was out in the middle of nowhere with no people around, I might (just might) even do it myself then, but in a urban setting, no way. With every shot I hear I can feel just that much more of my liberty slipping away because of these jerks.

Or am I off base here.

I agree. When I was a kid, I can remember the older guys shooting their shotguns off on New Years and thought it was cool then, but now not so much. I don't do it. :shock:

 

[jerryh]

This year in Tulsa two people were injured from 'falling' bullets. A young boy who was hit in the head with a falling bullet - he is still in the hospital. A man had, what looked liked a .38 or 9mm, which entered in his cheek just below the eye and traveled down to his jawline.

Regards, Jerry