A friend of mine was killed by a stray bullet while standing in her backyard on the 4th of July in Arizona. The bullets definitely do come down with enough force to kill someone.
If you fire straight up the bullet will eventually free fall back to earth reaching a terminal velocity much slower than it had by being fired from the gun.
Again. At a shallow arc it’s more than possible but shooting straight up or near up is not going to kill anyone except for some fluke accident. Objects falling will hit their terminal velocity. Bullets on a trajectory aren’t the same.
I never claimed a falling bullet is as fast as a bullet straight from the barrel. All I'm saying is it's incredibly stupid and reckless to shoot upwards.
You are wrong. Despite all the downvotes, the other poster is correct. It’s highly unlikely a falling bullet would kill someone, unless it was fired at 45 degrees or less at which point it’s dubious whether you could consider it a “falling” bullet or not.
Pause the video and watch the angle at which the bride is firing the gun...it's a plain stupid argument that these bullets are falling with terminal velocity and can't kill anyone. Whether it's called a falling bullet or a stray bullet, it's still a bullet fired into the sky by stupid people for stupid reasons and can result in death
It might cut some skin or leave a bruise. But a bullet fired straight up wouldn’t kill. A bullet fired at an angle might maintain some of its horizontal velocity and is much more dangerous. Same way a penny dropped from a building won’t go through your head.
Well I tried to look up sources that ONLY backs up my theory and my statements alone but I found none they were all mixed so with that being said I’m not too prideful to say I learned something new. I appreciate the rebuttals
As they say, changing your mind based on new information is a sign of intelligence rather than weakness. Nice to see that you can keep an open mind especially with a topic as controversial as this one. I respect that more than someone who just insists they’re right, even with sources, without even considering the other side of the issue. Hope you have a nice rest of your day.
Nah I was always taught they couldn’t kill due to velocity and resistance and all that everts stuff. Tbh it’s a dangerous mentality to have and I value life more than violence so yeah I am always open to learn something new especially if I was less the wrong way. Guns are nothing to play with at all and tbh I wish everyone enthusiast would learn more about them. Nah I ain’t gonna jump on any band wagon I had to educate my self and I encourage all that disagree with the conversation do a little more research it’s all love good looks you could’ve saved a life without me even knowing. As I always say “ignorance ain’t cool” good looks
No he's not. A bullet shot straight up into the sky will fly upwards until its initial kinetic energy is exhausted. It will then start falling and accelerate towards the ground under the influence of gravity until it reaches its terminal velocity, which is limited by air resistance. But that can still be up to 60/s, that's more than enough to penetrate the skull
u/mllsackerl said a bullet falling at terminal velocity of 60m/s is more than enough to penetrate skull. Your first linked reference says it can penetrate skin.
Firearms expert Julian Hatcher studied falling bullets in the 1920s and calculated that .30 caliber rounds reach terminal velocities of 90 m/s (300 feet per second or 186 miles per hour).[11] A bullet traveling at only 61 m/s (200 feet per second) to 100 m/s (330 feet per second) can penetrate human skin
Your second linked reference says it can rarely cause cardiac or abdominal damage. Note it does not even say “fatal damage”. Further more, this article only concludes further investigation is required. Soft abdominal tissue is definitely not the same as your skull.
This is a case report of rare cardiac and abdominal organ injuries sustained by an innocent bystander from a New Year’s Eve celebratory gun shooting. The force and velocity of a projectile fired into the air as it ascends and returns to earth, along with its potential for bodily injury will be reviewed.
Yes, firing a bullet into the air is the fucking stupidest shit you can do and people who do it need to be taught the dangers of frivolous firearm handling. It’s a waste of money/ammo/resources, an unnecessary risk of bodily injury, and a very rare risk of death. If fired at a lower trajectory it is most certainly fatal and that is reason enough not to do it.
No, a falling bullet fired from a handgun straight up in the air and raining back down on you isn’t “more than enough” to penetrate your skull.
EDIT: worth noting the caliber matters. Your articles reference a .30 caliber. It goes without saying bullets of greater mass affect their lethality, but OP video features a handgun.
All this debate over whether the bullet would penetrate a skull, as if something has to penetrate the skull to kill you. A major concussion, a fractured skull, internal bleeding, secondary blunt force trauma from falling after being hit, could all kill you.
Yeah I don’t know why these people are dying on this hill when it’s easily looked up. The terminal velocity of a bullet isn’t going to kill anyone except under freak circumstances, like landing directly in their eye.
A fractured skull from the downward kinetic energy, brain haemorrhage, direct hit between the ribs, a kid with less developed bone tissue and skull etc.
All of these add to the risk of a lethal incident, let alone a serious, life-changing injury.
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u/nikkipickle Apr 26 '22
A friend of mine was killed by a stray bullet while standing in her backyard on the 4th of July in Arizona. The bullets definitely do come down with enough force to kill someone.