Man Gets Prison for Firing New Year Shots

Guardian ^ | 1/1/04

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

A man who trumpeted the arrival of 2003 by firing a gun into the air outside the home where he was under house arrest was sentenced to almost five years in federal prison Wednesday.

Luis Otero received his sentence as Philadelphia police and prosecutors rolled out an annual effort to halt a dangerous New Year's Eve tradition: celebratory gunfire.

``It's a huge problem,'' said Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Stollsteimer.

At a news conference Tuesday, authorities were joined by a 16-year-old boy whose brain was damaged by a stray bullet that hit him on New Year's Eve 1998.

Otero was arrested in the waning minutes of 2002 when a police unit on the lookout for shooters saw him firing from the front porch of the home where he was under house arrest on a drug charge, Stollsteimer said.

Otero pleaded guilty in July to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Phone calls to the office of Otero's attorney went unanswered Wednesday.

[End Times Sentinel]

Happy to report from South Philadelphia that only two shots fired were heard by Mrs. Eagle and myself during tonight's festivities.

 

 

Owl_Eagle

”Guns Before Butter.”

[Prodigal Son]

I did this when I was a kid.

[smith288]

In Iraq, this guy would gain newfound neighborhood respect.

[flying Elvis]

He'd fit right in down here in rural Mississippi. The 'necks are out in force tonight and aparently armed to the teeth. Shotguns, pistols, and automatic weapons were broken out to ring in the new year. I could here them empying clips all evening like clockwork. Bam, bam, bam,... pause for reload, bam, bam, bam,...etc. The ammo dealers here must be overjoyed. lol

[CounterCounterCulture]

Good! It's an irresponsible use of a firearm. Bullets fall, but some people are too stupid to understand the impact until it's too late.

[Arkinsaw]

Several friends of mine do that here but fire them into the ground.

The major problem here with that sort of thing is shooting at road signs. Very stupid and dangerous.

[latina4dubya]

good... i had a house in a neighborhood where people would do this at midnight on new year's, and i would either make sure i was not home, or would sit in the very middle of my house until all the shooting stopped... when we sold the house a few years ago, the roof inspector told us we had several bullet holes in our roof... i hate this practice!

[antaresequity]

"Huge Problem"....

Hmmm... I don't condone it...because its a waste of good ammo that could be used for 'better' purposes...

But...How many people are actually put at risk from this?

I for one, could fire one or two off if I was so inclined and not create an 'incidence'...

How many people have died?...

If this is such a big risk, they must be dropping like flies in the West Bank after a martyrs death or another Israeli Bus Blowing Up...

By the way...M-80's and Cherry bombs are illegal too...thank god...

Rest in peace?

[Myrddin]

I always had dumbass neighbors in San Diego that emptied 15 round magazines into the air on New Years. The bullets come back down at a high enough speed to penetrate a human skull. The San Diego Sheriff's deputies park their vehicles under concrete overpasses before midnight as protection against bullet strikes from irresponsible firing of guns into the air.

Our city in Idaho allows fireworks for the 2 weeks prior to 4th of July and on New Years Eve/Day. Plenty of noise without injuries or death from stray rounds.

[FreeperinRATcage]

Just fireworks in the Northeast.

[Barnacle]

Perhaps you could have posted this 13 minutes earlier...

Before I let loose a 30 round magazine!

[CurlyDave]

OK, what about shotguns?

They get fired into the air all the time while hunting & the shot is small enough that terminal velocity is too low to hurt anyone on the way down.

[Myrddin]

It seems I've acquired a dumbass neighbor up here as well. Only 7 shots this time. Likely something innocuous like a .45ACP.

[Kirkwood]

Came out on Jan 1 a couple years back and found a bullet hit my car on the driver's side.

[Myrddin]

A shotgun should not pose a problem. Particularly with birdshot. One of my neighbors in San Diego had a full-auto AK-47. He would turn it loose with a 30-round magazine. The other dope was firing a couple 15-round 9mm mags into the air. There is a distinct difference in sound between the smooth delivery of the full auto rifle and the repeated single shots from the 9mm. Either way, you don't want to be in the terminal path of the projectile.

[Kirkwood]

Oh, and we had a tourist killed a few years back by a falling bullet on New Year's eve. Seem to recall a other people getting hurt or having close calls in recent years. This is mostly a southern US problem I believe. I was totally unaware of it until I moved into the deep south about 20 years ago.

[Peace will be here soon]

How many people have died?...

---

"At a news conference Tuesday, authorities were joined by a 16-year-old boy whose brain was damaged by a stray bullet that hit him on New Year's Eve 1998." Not all of the people struck by these idiots firing guns in the air will die. But some do die. My uncle was killed by some idiot in Houston, back in June of 2002. My cousin , who was in the passenger seat at the time, said she did not see any other vehicles near them on the highway when the incident occured. http://www.crime-stoppers.org/headline.html?hid=36 . Police have no clues to what may have happened. But do speculate it very well may have been some moron just firing erratically in the air in the general area. Which they did have some reports of at the time. The bullet completely fragmented when it hit my uncle`s head, so any chances of tracing it back to someones gun are slim to none.

[Peace will be here soon]

..and found a bullet hit my car on the driver's side.

---

I had the same thing happen to me !! But it was my new girlfriends jealous boyfriend trying to scare me. Unfortunately it didn`t work. I wish it would have scared me off though, the girl was a total whacko ( I eventually found out ). A brick did end up in the old boyfriends car windshield several months after I broke it off with the whacko girl. The funny thing of it all is, I drove a piece of crap 78 Mazda, and he drove a brand new Honda CRX. I didn`t even fix the bullet hole in my door, but he darn sure had to fix his ride !!!

[bluefish]

I don't know how many have died, but the story cites a boy who was permanently brain damaged, while others here have reported property damage, as a result of this practice you poo poo as harmless. You seem to defend the practice with a "'taint no big deal" attitude, stating that you could fire your gun into the air without causing an "incidence" [SIC], as I'm sure the folks who permanently injured a child and put holes in cars and roofs beleived.

You should rethink your position and base your conclusions on facts. Folks like you are why we are losing our right to keep and bear arms. You have to respect the power of a gun and a bullet to preserve our liberty to possess them.