Firing in the Air a Lot: Difference between revisions

Remember: what goes up, must come down. Thus far, few people have ever been shown being injured by a stray bullet from this display, which could impact the ground or injure/kill someone at about 200 MPH a fair distance away.(The ''[[Myth Busters]]'' have investigated the inherent possibilities, though...)

Can overlap with [[Shouting Shooter]]. Compare [[Stab the Sky]], [[A-Team Firing]].

* At the end of ''[[Jarhead]]'', after not getting to use their guns once for the entire movie, every single character begins firing their weapons into the air when they hear that they are going back home.

* Happens in the 2008 ''[[Iron Man (Film)|Iron Man]] movie''. The doctor that we get introduced to picks up an assault rifle and runs around shooting the ceiling ([[A-Team Firing|and not the baddies]]) with it.

** And how not to fire in the air: later in the film, they are instructed to fire in the air once each to summon a spirit. Lucky Day and Ned Nederlander both fire into the air. Dusty Bottoms's shot is more horizontal. {{spoiler|Straight into the Invisible Swordsman they were summoning.}}

* Also subverted in ''[[Big Trouble in Little China]]''; right before the big battle scene, Jack fires in the air repeatedly, and is knocked out by falling debris.

*** Also, blank cartridges don't tend to cycle the action of automatic and semi-automatic firearms that well.

** ''[[Myth Busters]]'' showed that this happens as long as the rifle/pistol is not pointing perfectly straight up into the air - on the fluke chance that it is, the bullet will just drift. Of course, the ability of your average celebratory shooter managing this is not all that high. Warning, Science content! A bullet fired straight up, or very nearly so, will expend all of its momentum in gaining altitude, less a little bit lost to air resistance. It will then fall back down, it's velocity limited by air resistance. A bullet fired at an angle, however, even a steep one, will still have a high velocity when it comes back down.

* According to ''[[Dave Barry]] Hits Below the Beltway'', [[Firing in The Air A Lot]] is a traditional way to celebrate festive occasions in Miami:

{{quote| On New Year's Eve, parts of Miami sound like a war zone, only louder. Unfortunately, the law of gravity--one of the few laws observed in Miami on New Year's Eve--causes many of the bullets to come back down, which is why police and firefighters do not venture into these areas until the rain of lead is over.}}

[[Category:Truth in Television]]

[[Category:Firing In The Air A Lot]]