http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebratory_gunfire#Falling-bullet_injuries
푸에르토리코에선 새해맞이날 축포로 허공에 쏘는 총알에 매년 두 명이 죽고 25명이 부상당한다고 합니다 -_-;;;;
미국에서는 여섯 개 주에서 허공에 총 쏘는 행위를 형법으로 처벌하고 있네요. 사상자가 발생한 사례들 때문에...
총알에 맞은 경우 직접 조준으로 맞았을 때 사망률은 2~6%이지만, 허공에서 떨어진 총알에 맞아 사망하는 확률은 37%에 달한다고 합니다.(물론 전자의 경우가 압도적으로 많긴 합니다) 머리에 맞거나 어깨를 통해 심폐기관을 향해 들어가기 쉬워서 그런 것 같습니다.
허공으로 올라갔다가 떨어지는 총알은 종단속도가 평균적으로 90m/s, 총알이 무거우면 150m/s 정도에 이른다고 하네요. 회전력을 잃고 옆면으로 부딪히는 경우도 많겠지만 아무튼 납덩이나 쇳덩이에 저렇게 맞으면 '안전하다'고는 못 하겠네요.
수직으로 쏘아올리지 않고 비스듬하게 쏘는 경우 강선에 의한 회전력을 완전히 잃지 않아서 더 위험할 수 있다고 합니다.
주요 사례
- December 1859: An autopsy showed that a native servant in India, who suddenly fell dead for no apparent reason, was mortally wounded from a bullet fired from a distance too far for the shot to be heard. The falling bullet had sufficient energy to pass through the victim's shoulder, a rib, a lung, his heart and his diaphragm. -어깨 갈비 폐 심장 횡격막 모두 관통
- January 1, 1996: A grandmother in Detroit named Sandra Latham was killed on New Year's Day from bullet from celebratory firing as she sat in her living room. -거실에 앉아있던 할머니 사망
- December 31, 1994: A tourist from Boston was killed by a falling bullet from celebratory firing while walking on the Moonwalk in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. The Police Department there has been striving to educate the public on the danger since then, frequently making arrests for firing into the air. -관광객 걷다가 사망
- July 22, 2003: More than 20 people were reported killed in Iraq from celebratory gunfire following the deaths of Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay in 2003.
- December 31, 2004: A 75-year-old man in Orlando, Florida, was mortally wounded in the heart from a falling bullet just before midnight. Police later traced the fatal bullet to a gun confiscated from a man firing into the air more than a mile away. The shooter was charged with manslaughter. -1.6km이상 떨어진 곳에서 쏜 총알에 심장을 맞아 사망, 쏜 사람 살인죄로 기소
- January 1, 2005: A stray bullet hit a young girl during New Year celebrations in the central square of downtown Skopje, Macedonia. She died two days later. This incident led to the 2006 IANSA awareness campaign in that country.
- December 28, 2005: A 23-year-old U.S. Army private on leave after basic training fired a 9 mm pistol into the air in celebration with friends, according to police, and one of the bullets came through a fifth-floor apartment window in the New York City borough of Queens, striking a 28-year-old mother of two in the eye. Her husband found her lifeless body moments later. The shooter had been drinking the night before and turned himself in to police the next morning when he heard the news. He was charged with second-degree manslaughter and weapons-related crimes, and was later found guilty and sentenced to four to 12 years in prison. -군인이 축하의 의미로 허공에 쏜 총알이 5층 아파트에 살던 아이엄마 눈을 맞혀 사망. 군인은 소식을 듣자 자수하였고 4~12년 징역 선고받음
- February 25, 2007: Five people were killed by stray bullets fired at a kite festival in Lahore, Pakistan, including a 6-year-old schoolboy who was struck in the head near his home in the city's Mazang area. -축제날 5명 사망
- July 29, 2007: At least four people were reported killed and 17 others wounded by celebratory gunfire in the capital city of Baghdad, Iraq, following the victory of the national football team in the AFC Asian Cup, Celebratory gunfire occurred despite warnings issued by Iraqi security forces and the country's leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who forbade the gunfire with a religious fatwā.
- January 1, 2010: A 4-year-old boy was killed shortly after midnight while sitting in church during a midnight service in an Atlanta suburb. The cause of death was thought first to be due to falling ceiling debris until an autopsy confirmed an intracranial bullet injury to be the culprit. -자정 예배 도중 교회 안에 앉아있던 소년이 머리에 맞고 사망
