AKL Chapter Closed

[Firehouse]

Nope. It's not true. I'm not insensitive to the tragedy of the child who died from a bullet fired three blocks away.

This issue might have gotten a little confused by the terms. "A projectile falling from the sky" is vague. A round fired in a shallow arc across the distance of, say, a few blocks, might still possess some of the start velocity when it hits. When by-standers are hurt by random bullets during celebrations, it's usually because the rounds are fired upward, into buildings, or in shallow arcs.

But if you fire bullets straight up into the air, they should not damage you when they come straight down. Unless you're looking up and one hits you in the eye.

Think, for example, about all the bullets fired by airplanes during dogfights above ground troops. For the most part, the planes are high enough in the air so that the rounds lose their velocity and go into free-fall before they hit the ground. If we stood on top of a tall building and dropped a handful of standard military bullets, minus the casings, they aren't going to kill anyone. They might ding a car or two, but they aren't coming down point first, and they won't hit with enough velocity to do any great harm.