Newsweek?
Really?
A bullet fired sideways may still have enough velocity to kill someone, but one fired up in the air is going to fall like the penny. It may sting, it may break some skin, but it’s not deadly.
I was living in L.A. one New Year’s day when KNX News Radio reported a man had been killed by a celebratory falling bullet. It’s the custom of the Mexican people to shoot into the air on that night.
Newsweek was the first of many articles that popped up after I Googled something like: “shooting into the air deaths Los Angeles” I suppose I could have gone with a source we both would have liked better, but I was lazy—sorry about that!
A penny presents a surface area of 285 square mm to the air, and has a mass of 2.5 grams
A .45 ACP bullet has presents a surface area of 103 square mm to the air and has a mass of 14.9 grams.
That translates to 16 times more powerful force as the bullet falls that that of the penny.
Should you happen to read the article, this is what it says:
“When a bullet is fired into the air, it can stay in flight for over a minute. On the way down, it gains a velocity of between 300 and 700 feet per second—that’s more than powerful enough to kill a human. Skulls can be penetrated at a velocity of 200 feet per second.
On July 4, 1999, 9-year-old Brian Perez was hit in the head by a stray bullet. He died of his injuries the next day. At the time of Perez’s death, he was the 39th person to be killed by a stray bullet on a holiday in L.A.”
Tell your “Stings like a penny” story to Brian Perez’ mother.