Trauma centers and police see a predictable New Year’s Eve cycle every year: the relationship between celebratory gunfire and injuries/deaths. When you shoot a firearm up into the air at midnight, you may believe that the rounds will not cause harm, since they are going up. However, research using ballistic testing, along with hospital data, has shown that these types of rounds can be equally deadly as purposeful gunfire during all days of the year.
New Year’s celebratory gunfire has serious consequences
Firearms are typically fired straight up into the air, and the bullets travel up, slow down, and then fall back down due to gravity. Research and experimentation have shown that most handgun and rifle bullets drop back down to earth at speeds ranging from approximately 150 to 300 feet per second. That is still a speed high enough to enter a person’s body through their skin, break bones, and enter the cranium.
In a study performed at a Los Angeles Trauma Center between 1985 and 1992, there were 118 individuals treated for gunshot wounds caused by falling bullets. The majority of the patients suffered a penetrating wound to the head, and approximately 32% of them died, which is a much higher percentage than the average mortality rate for gunshot wounds. Many of the surviving gunshot victims also experienced permanent damage as a result of the injury.
A recent incident in Florida clearly demonstrate that this threat is not simply hypothetical. On January 1, 2025, at approximately 12:01 am, 10-year-old Yaneliz Munguia was fatally injured in Miami-Dade County, FL., when a bullet believed to have been fired in celebration of the New Year struck her in the head while she was standing outside with her family. On the same night, a 56-year-old woman in Kissimmee, Florida, was killed on her patio when she was struck by a bullet that fell from the sky, which was fired into the air by a neighbor who was located over a nearby lake. The neighbor was subsequently arrested and charged with manslaughter by culpable negligence. Neither victim had direct contact with the shooter, and neither received any warnings before being struck by the falling round.
In addition to the potential for severe injury or death to innocent bystanders, legal consequences for shooting a firearm into the air can be very serious, regardless of whether anyone is injured. For example, in Arizona, “Shannon’s Law” makes discharging a firearm with criminal negligence within city limits a Class 6 Felony, punishable by imprisonment, fines, and/or a permanent felony conviction.
Other states and municipalities utilize unlawful discharge statutes and reckless endangerment statutes to prosecute celebratory gunfire, with increased penalties based upon whether your bullet damaged a building or vehicle, caused an injury, or resulted in a fatality. By keeping your firearm holstered on New Year’s Eve and celebrating the holidays with safe alternatives, you can help protect your neighbors and protect yourself from charges that could haunt you years after the holiday season has ended.
