Most years, I end up writing a piece reminding folks not to shoot up into the air to celebrate the new year. I didn't this year because, frankly, it's not the average Bearing Arms reader engaging in such idiocy. We tend to understand that what goes up must come down, and we've all seen stories about how even target practice can hurt people miles away.
We don't do such stupid things.
If you're going to engage in that kind of thing, shooting at a proper range or, at the very least, shooting into a patch of dirt where there aren't any rocks makes more sense. The latter is still stupid, though, and a story out of Los Angeles shows why.
Even if the claims of celebratory gunfire are false.
I'll explain in a bit.
Los Angeles police Monday were investigating the New Year’s Eve shooting death of a man by an off-duty ICE agent in Northridge that has sparked a civil rights activist’s call for an independent probe.
Officers responded at 11:37 p.m. Wednesday to reports of a man firing shots in the air at an apartment complex in the 17701 block of Roscoe Boulevard and Amestoy Avenue, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
The ICE officer, who has not yet been identified, responded to the shooting and exchanged gunfire with the shooter, according to a statement issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
“On December 31st, an off duty ICE Officer bravely responded to an active shooter situation at his apartment complex. In order to protect his life and that of others, he was forced to defensively use his weapon and exchanged gunfire with the shooter,” the statement said. “Fortunately, our brave officer was not injured while protecting his community.”
“It was like a lot of shots. It was more than 10 shots, it was a lot of shots and we got scared, but I thought it was something like fireworks,” an apartment resident told Fox11.
A local activist claims that the man, who was pronounced dead at the scene, was really just shooting into the air to celebrate the new year and says there are witnesses to this effect.
Considering the hate-on people have for ICE in Los Angeles, I'll take those claims with a dump truck full of salt.
However, even if we take the claim at face value, the man in question still had a gun, was firing it in a manner that risked human life, and was shot by an off-duty law enforcement officer.
Nothing he was doing was legal under California state law, for one thing. For another, he was putting people in danger. It's entirely possible that everything the alleged witnesses saw was right, and it's still a clean shoot in the eyes of ICE authorities.
Celebratory gunfire is always problematic, but here's an example of someone firing a gun and getting shot by an off-duty federal law enforcement officer because he was shooting a gun in public.
Of course, the official statement claims there was a gunfight, which suggests that while old boy might have started out shooting into the air, he pointed a gun at the agent somewhere along the way. If that's the case, play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
So, at a minimum, this is yet another reason to not be an idiot and shoot up into the air.
Most likely, it's another reason not to point guns at people after shooting into the air.
Editor's Note: The mainstream media continues to lie about gun owners and the Second Amendment.
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