"LAPD Commander Robert Arcos and L.A. County Sheriff's Department Chief Anthony La Berge held a news conference Wednesday to launch a Gunfire Reduction Campaign in an effort to reduce the number of bullets fired into the air to celebrate New Year's.....According to the LAPD, a bullet with a velocity of 200 feet per second is fast enough to penetrate the human skull, and gun shots pick up to speeds between 300 and 700 feet per second when they fall from the sky."
http://www.scpr.org/news/2015/12/30/565 ... ve-gunfir/

This includes at weddings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfSJpHaD9Lg

In a news release, the LAPD said that a man was hit in the face by a bullet on Jan. 1, 2014 on Figueroa Street,...

One would think with all the with the hassle required for gun ownership in CA, those who possess firearms legally in the state would not want to jeopardize their status as gun owners. Figueroa Street is in a high density urban area between Inglewood and Compton. Is there a range in that area? http://maps.google.com/?q=Figueroa+St%2 ... l=en&gl=us

...and the Department's website states that the last death in Los Angeles linked with celebratory gunfire was a 9-year-old boy named Brian Perez, who was killed in 1999. 

They should have listed the total number of injured for that period as well.

SilasSoule wrote:This includes at weddings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfSJpHaD9Lg

Where in California is that?

DispositionMatrix wrote:

SilasSoule wrote:This includes at weddings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfSJpHaD9Lg

Where in California is that?

I think thats just north of the Salton Sea at a little town called Mecca.

...gun shots pick up to speeds between 300 and 700 feet per second when they fall from the sky...

Is he trying to say one bullet has a terminal velocity over twice the speed of another bullet?

I'm wondering what science supports that?

BKinzey wrote:

...gun shots pick up to speeds between 300 and 700 feet per second when they fall from the sky...

Is he trying to say one bullet has a terminal velocity over twice the speed of another bullet?

I'm wondering what science supports that?

I think it'll depend on the height of the bullet when it starts to fall, the frontal diameter of the bullet, and the mass of the bullet. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_velocity and pay attention to the "Examples" paragraph, which talks of skydivers reaching speeds between approximately 179 fps (122 mph) and approximately 1,223 fps (834 mph).

Science..!

rascally wrote:

BKinzey wrote:

...gun shots pick up to speeds between 300 and 700 feet per second when they fall from the sky...

Is he trying to say one bullet has a terminal velocity over twice the speed of another bullet?

I'm wondering what science supports that?

I think it'll depend on the height of the bullet when it starts to fall, the frontal diameter of the bullet, and the mass of the bullet. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_velocity and pay attention to the "Examples" paragraph, which talks of skydivers reaching speeds between approximately 179 fps (122 mph) and approximately 1,223 fps (834 mph).

Science..!

Aerodynamic stability too. A bullet that keeps a stable, nose-first fall will fall a lot faster than one that tumbles - especially rifle bullets that tend to be longer and more streamlined.

From that Wiki article:

Higher speeds can be attained if the skydiver pulls in his or her limbs (see also freeflying). In this case, the terminal velocity increases to about 320 km/h (200 mph or 90 m/s),[2] which is almost the terminal velocity of the peregrine falcon diving down on its prey.[3] The same terminal velocity is reached for a typical .30-06 bullet dropping downwards—when it is returning to earth having been fired upwards, or dropped from a tower—according to a 1920 U.S. Army Ordnance study.

So a typical 30.06 bullet falls at 200mph.

300fps works out to about 205mph.

700fps works out to about 477mph.

I'm just not buying that a match target round will have a terminal velocity at over twice the speed of ball ammo or a wadcutter.

Just to be clear, I'm talking about bullets, not humans or objects which actively work to change the air resistance. What I think is happening here is hyperbole to push a generally good idea.

An old one from the Onion. http://www.theonion.com/article/iraq-ke ... he-air--74

So, for anyone who is still interested, I looked up some interweb tubes info. Here are two links on dropping bullets.

http://forensicoutreach.com/the-falling ... -velocity/

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_ ... ingle.html

Drag or resistance affects speed more than I was thinking but 700fps is over twice the speed mentioned in any article I looked at except a quote from a LEO (LAPD I think?) which used the same 300 - 700fps quote. Maybe they read from the same card.

I also looked at falling pennies (you know, the Empire State Building falling myth) and a penny tops out at about 50mph while a copper ball of the same density will hit about 200mph.

What I hadn't considered is ability to penetrate your skin. Of course even if a target round and a wadcutter are traveling at the same speed, the pointy target round will penetrate your skin a lot easier than the wadcutter so that could easily be the difference between a bruise and a trip to the hospital.