There's nothing like laying back on New Year's Eve and taking in the sounds of the city in celebration: the rapid-fire pop of who-knows-how-many handguns and revolvers shooting into the sky. It's a tradition in Southern California and Tijuana, and my guess it goes back to the rancho days. Trouble is, this can be really dangerous, as the LAPD blog notes:
A bullet shot in the air can drop at a rate of 200 feet per second and have enough force to penetrate a roof or a human skull. The last death attributed to celebratory gunfire was nine-year-old Brian Perez, who died in 1999.
Back in the day, mom used to make us crawl on all fours from one end of the house to the other on NYE to "stay out of the line of fire." Hilarious. Happy New Gyear!