Celebratory gunfire in Kokomo hits 5yo girl

[Mgderf]

1st rule of firearm safety,

ALWAYS keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction.

Too bad everyone can't seem to understand this concept.

 

[El-Cigarro]

Heard some last night, but we're out in the country.....

 

[hoosierdoc]

Was she trying to wrestle the gun away from an OCer?

 

[OutaAmmo]

What's a 5 yr old doing up at midnight? And outside. Maybe the parents should be arrested for child endagerment.

Do you know where your childs at?

 

[donnie1581]

I shot last night, but not up in the air. I have a burn barrel full of crap that the bullet can't penetrate all the way through. If it did manage to go all the way through, it would go into my shed where there's even more crap to stop it.

Ps. There are no exit wounds on the back side of the burn barrel.

 

[Phase2]

Heard some last night, but we're out in the country.....

Sorry to hear that. Rural areas aren't exempt from safety rules.

Ohio sheriff: Bullet that killed Amish teen girl in buggy came from man cleaning gun far away - The Washington Post

 

[Caleb]

If upward at steep angle they slow to zero and then freefall, reach a max V aaaaaaay less than from which the gun they departed.

That large horizontal component compared to vertical stuff is what gets folks hurt.
Alas, folks busting caps in town probably aren't bright enough to remember that other bit.

They've been shooting downtown for yrs in that burg.

Shot used to rain down on my house. No big deal. It was the 9mm and .40 cal stuff that made me herd my kids (well before festivities started) to interior rooms back in the day.

It will still kill somebody! Ever heard of terminal velocity?

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

Terminal velocity is drag-dependent. A bullet has a lot higher one than a human. Look up the "lazy dog missile". It was a little steel bomb shaped thing with fins. They would drop them from airplanes onto troops in the jungle. Heck, troops have been injured by brass falling from overflying planes.

We we at an apartment complex in NE Indianapolis for midnight, and there were several firearms discharged all around. Someone ripped through a 30rd mag on something or other. We all went inside.

 

[printcraft]

Yeah!!!! Kokomo makes the news again.........
just a couple of weeks ago it was a drunken school bus driver, now this.

Awesome.

 

[SmileDocHill]

It will still kill somebody! Ever heard of terminal velocity?

You do realize that "terminal velocity" does not mean the velocity at which it can inflict terminal injuries right?

 

[Caleb]

You do realize that "terminal velocity" does not mean the velocity at which it can inflict terminal injuries right?

It very well could...besides the point, it's completely irresponsible to be discharging a firearm in a unsafe direction without knowing the backstop.

 

[youngda9]

It very well could...besides the point, it's completely irresponsible to be discharging a firearm in a unsafe direction without knowing the backstop.

Yes. I can't believe people are so dumb. Reminds me of that poor Amish girl that was killed a couple weeks ago because of neglegence. So sad.

 

[TTravis]

Maybe someone should make up New Year's Eve kits to hand out in the hood. These would include condoms, needles, and 9mm blanks.

 

[boileralum]

"Experiments on cadavers and such have shown, for example, that a .38 caliber revolver bullet will perforate the skin and lodge in the underlying tissue at 191 feet per second and that triple-ought buckshot will do so at 213 feet per second."

from: The Straight Dope: Can a bullet fired into the air kill someone when it comes down?

That's still plenty enough speed to do some damage, even if not lethal.

 

[Hookeye]

Are those speeds from free fall?

 

[modelflyer2003]

What. Goes. Up. Must. Come. Down.

People are idiots.

Excluding the price of gas.

 

[TTravis]

This is what happens when they actually take aim.

Blackbird deaths: Sign of apocalypse as thousands die on 2nd New Year's Eve in a row? | Mail Online

 

[Hookeye]

Topic of the Month

Base first, decent weight, smaller frontal area than most pistol bullets.
1/16th inch deep in soft pine. .30 cal rifle 150 gr bullet terminal velocity was 320 FPS.
Weight to surface area key..........a OO buck pellet weighs?

The stuff they drop from planes to hurt folks down below would be of small frontal area and of decent mass (common material or higher density stuff?)

It would concentrate its energy over a small area (tip) and actually penetrate to do harm. Finned my guess, to strike small surface area tip first.

 

[jdklvans]

Still n reason to be unsafe in city limits with kids around that have no clue about safety. Heck, sound like those adults are the ones who have no clue about safety.

 

[Hookeye]

The "Straight Dope" article linked does not explicitly state that the damage FPS values for the OO and .38 stuff were attained in free fall.

Being how the medical folks are a bit biased, it wouldn't suprise me that the speeds given weren't fudged (or if truthful, were not from free fall).