 | For Immediate Release: 12/30/2009
Prepared by: Veda Nichols/SCMPDChiefsOffice/SavGa
NEW YEAR’S EVE: A TIME FOR CELEBRATION…NOT GUNFIRE
N E W S R E L E A S E
For Immediate ReleaseSAVANNAH, GA (December 30, 2009): Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department (SCMPD) Chief Willie C. Lovett reminds New Year’s Eve revelers that firing guns into the air poses a significant risk to the safety of our citizens.
“Remember, what goes up must come down,” said Lovett. “It is unsafe and against the law to fire a weapon into the air.”
Each year, people mistakenly believe that firing shots in the air is a harmless way to celebrate the New Year … not so, according to the numbers recorded each year of reported victims hit by stray bullets.
In 2007, in Tucson, Arizona, a five-year-old boy was struck behind the ear by a bullet as it ripped through his home’s roof and hit him while he was sleeping in his bed. The same night, another bullet came through the roof of a family’s kitchen.
A bullet can travel up to two miles up in the air; research shows that upon discharge, a bullet can remain in flight for a minute. The bullet can come down at a deadly rate of 300 to 700 feet per second, which is enough to penetrate the human skill.
A study published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences in 1984, concluded that a .38 caliber bullet would perforate the skin at a rate of only 124 feet per second, or less than half the speed of a bullet falling out of the sky. A rifle bullet falling out of the sky at 300 feet per second is likely to be lethal – a conclusion accepted by governments and law enforcement agencies around the world.
“People who violate gun laws governing the discharge of guns will go to jail,” added Lovett. “Enjoy celebrating, but keep your property, your neighbors and loved one’s safe. Don’t celebrate with guns.”
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