Dallas Police on the Prowl
Every year, the Dallas Police Department does it, detailing that any illegal firework or gun fired to welcome the New Year comes with substantial punishments. And they mean business as it could mean a hefty fine and can land any wrongdoer a year behind bars.
But if past New Years can tell us anything, this New Year (or Tuesday for that matter) will most likely be packed with many trespassers. Worse, history is not wanting in giving us classic examples. In fact, it’s even practiced only on special occasions. People fire guns indiscriminately with or without the need of glorious events as an up and coming year.
Bad History
A painful reminder (but one that has been made to good use) is the Shannon’s Law in Phoenix, in remembrance of 14-year-old Shannon Smith who died because of a stray bullet in June of 1999. Investigations revealed that the bullet came from a gun fired half-a-mile away by a stranger that has yet to be identified.
Even closer to home, on the first day of January, 2012, one lone bullet found its way to the bed of a woman breastfeeding her infant in Pleasant Grove. Good thing the bullet claimed the bed but not the mother-infant team.
Luck was not that kind to Gus Roden, though. As New Year 2010 approached the teenager was grazed by a random shot. It was later found out that the shot was a 9mm bullet.
And the history of bullets hitting people from out of nowhere has piled up through the years. Quite naturally, it may be a source of adrenaline rush for many; but it never is funny when you are on the receiving end of a bullet speeding miles per minute.
In the year 2009, a woman was brought in wounded in the left shoulder by a stray bullet in the first hours of the New Year. The year before that saw a 2-year-old suffer from bullet wounds in the arm.
In Harm’s Way
And though it seems warnings have fallen on deaf ears, the Dallas Police still makes the details public as religiously as possible.
The official warning: Discharging a firearm in the city limits, at this or any other most wonderful time of the year, is illegal and comes with a fine of up to $4,000 and/or a year in jail. And using and/or possessing illegal fireworks can cost you up to $2,000.
And further in a press release, the Dallas PD details:
“During this upcoming New Year’s holiday, the Dallas Police Department will be patrolling neighborhoods looking for violators of random gunfire and illegal fireworks. Fireworks that are in plain view will be confiscated, and a citation will be issued to the person in possession of the fireworks. The police department is also reminding citizens that our officers will be looking out for any citizens discharging firearms in the city limits of Dallas.”
Though the fines are heavy and the punishment exacting, many believe it is, to a large extent, futile. As detailed by a December 2009 heads-up (and keep your heads down) campaign by KERA-FM, in Dallas there were 615 calls to 911 concerning indiscriminate gunfire over the New Year – with only just one arrest.
