POLICE WARN: NO NEW YEAR’S GUNFIRE

Police around the country have urged residents against the dangerous practice of shooting off guns to celebrate the New Year and warned of criminal charges against those who do.

In Columbus, Ohio, Deputy Police Chief Richard Bash said Friday that police will charge anyone caught firing a gun on New Year’s Eve. Bash said the shooting is dangerous and ties up officers who must investigate gunfire reports.

Police in Kansas City, Mo., have also warned residents against firing guns in celebration and told them to call 911 if they see someone shooting and try to talk friends and family out of the idea, according to Sgt. Jake Becchina.

Police in Florida also want an end to celebratory gunfire, which Freddy Ramirez, Miami-Dade Police Department Assistant Director, calls “irresponsible.”

“We’re trying to educate our children for a safer world, and as adults we’re cranking rounds up in the air — unacceptable,” Ramirez said.

In 2015, a man watching New Year’s fireworks from his driveway in southeastern Houston was killed by a stray bullet from celebratory gunfire nearby. Later that year, a 16-year-old girl was struck and killed by a stray bullet as she sat on a couch inside her home in College Park, southwest of Atlanta, on July 4. In Kansas City, an 11year-old girl died after she was struck by a stray bullet on July 4, 2011. In Denver in 2008, an 11-yearold girl and her aunt were killed by a single bullet that entered a home where a family was celebrating after it was fired from a high-powered rifle as part of a holiday celebration. — The Associated Press and The