ATF: Guns and New Year’s don’t mix
Bureau issues warning against shooting firearms into the sky to ring in 2009.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has a message for New Year's Eve revelers: Shooting guns into the sky isn't just a dangerous form of celebration -- it's illegal in many places.
"ATF wants to ensure that all those who are planning on celebrating New Year's Eve have a great time and enjoy family and friends," said John A. Torres, special agent in charge of ATF's Los Angeles field division, in a press release. "We don't want to see the New Year ruined by someone being injured or killed just because someone thought it would be fun to shoot a gun in the air."
Torres noted that discharging a firearm into the air is a felony under California law and is a federal crime if the person doing the shooting is prohibited from possessing a gun. Other cities and states also have laws in place banning the discharge of firearms into the air.
Bullets shot into the air, ATF said, can rise as high as two miles and then fall at a rate of 300 to 700 feet per second.
ATF also issued a reminder that several kinds of fireworks are banned under federal law. These include M-80s, M-100s, silver salutes and cherry bombs.