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Old July 8, 2013, 11:57 AM   #11
Theohazard
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Join Date: April 19, 2012
Location: Western PA
Posts: 3,829
GEM - edited out a comment based on a misplaced and unclear sentence in my post. Sorry about that.

I found that episode to be extremely informative. It explained what my Dad and I found in our many years of running a family roofing business in Washinton DC.

Every several months we'd find a leak caused by a bullet that had been fired into the air. The thin layer of roofing (usually tin) was punctured, along with up to a quarter inch of plywood, but that was usually the extent of the damage. Sometimes we'd find just a very small puncture and then a mostly intact bullet just sitting on the roof nearby. Most of the houses we worked on had flat roofs, but even then we didn't alway find the bullet lying nearby; it was probably washed to the gutter at some point.

I'm guessing the bullets we found that penetrated the plywood still had some angular momentum. But even then, most of the bullet we found probably didn't have enough energy to puncture an adult skull; most probably would just have broken the skin. And the ones where the bullet just made a small divot and bounced out probaby would have barely broken the skin. I specifically remember finding at least one .30 caliber rifle bullet like that.

A few times we did find a bullet that went far enough through the wood that it would very likely have killed someone. These seemed like they hit at somewhat of an angle, but it was hard to tell.

All this just goes to show that, while a bullet fired into the air doesn't always come down with deadly velocity, it happens often enough that it's stupid to ever fire a gun in the air.
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Last edited by Glenn E. Meyer; July 8, 2013 at 12:15 PM.
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