# Celebratory Gunfire Danger

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebratory-gunfire-danger/608206>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 3, 2012, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebratory-gunfire-danger/608206 "2012-01-03T00:50:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebratory-gunfire-danger/608206/61 "2012-01-09T15:08:03Z")

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> [@Xema](#):
>
> Until the parabola is distorted by drag - which happens in the first half second.
> 
> As Mangetout and others have noted, the concept of terminal velocity can apply even if the shot is far from vertical.

Actually, so far no-one has addressed this in any sort of detail. The comments so far apply to a bullet firing vertically. My understanding, at least untill corrected, is that most gunfire allegedly fired “vertically” in celebration is going to be far from vertical, meaning that the bullets return to earth on a modified parabolic trajectory - rather than plummeting under their own weight at terminal velocity, which is going to be considerably safer.

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