Irresponsible. Unnerving. Sound of gunfire rang in New Year for two hours. | Opinion
When the clock struck midnight, gunshots rang out in my neighborhood and many others across southeastern Wisconsin as the calendar turned to 2024.
We live off 39th and Capitol Drive, and gunfire ranged from the small pop of a .22 caliber round to the rapid-fire succession of a Glock.
While I understand the need to celebrate the New Year, hearing so much gunfire for so long is unnerving. The gunfire lasted for nearly two hours after my wife and I shared our glass of champagne.
We have a lot of people with guns in our city, many who probably shouldn’t have them, and I don’t ever want to get so numb to gunfire that it doesn’t bother me.
As a Black man in Milwaukee, I’m tired of writing pieces about how someone got shot after an argument. Or a kid got ahold of a gun and shot themselves or someone else because the owner of the weapon didn’t properly secure it.
Since I live in the heart of the city, I hear enough gunshots weekly, and I’m at the point where I don’t want to listen to any guns going off intentionally or unintentionally.
I’m a gun owner, and firing a gun from my porch up in the air to celebrate the new year has never been something that I’ve participated in. It’s irresponsible.
Sound of gunfire becoming too common in Milwaukee
The Milwaukee Police Department warns people against firing guns into the air on New Year’s Eve every year because those bullets fired in the air come down. All it takes is one of those bullets to go through a window and strike someone.
In fact, a Glendale family found a bullet hole in the wall next to their son’s crib. The stray bullet was located in between their son’s stuffed animals.
When the gunshots started this year, I opened our living room window and recorded. My wife fussed at me to move away from the windows. When I looked out my window, I could see the flashes of light coming from several of my neighbors opening fire.
I’m sure all the gunshots also sent the city’s ShotSpotter into a frenzy.
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A Journal Sentinel report showed that from 2015 to 2022, Wisconsin had the 13th highest rate of unintentional shootings by children, according to Everytown For Gun Safety, an advocacy group in favor of stricter gun laws.
While I don’t want to sound like the grumpy guy on the block who complains about everything, the number of shots fired on New Year’s Eve was disturbing.
With a record number of guns in people’s homes and the likelihood of accidental death by a gun being four times higher in homes with a gun, I hope that everyone who fired off their gun to ring in the New Year correctly stored them and used gun locks, which are given away for free in Milwaukee.
Unfortunately, I know too many people who have been shot in the city, and I know many who have been killed.
If you would like to pick up a free gun lock and you are a Milwaukee resident, you can obtain a free gun lock at the following locations:
United Neighborhood Center of Milwaukee’s, 1609 W. North Ave.
City on a Hill, 2224 W. Kilbourn Ave.
Milwaukee Christian Center, 807 S. 14th St.
Neighborhood House of Milwaukee, 2819 W. Richardson Place
Neu-Life Community Development, 2014 W. North Ave.
Silver Spring Neighborhood Center, 5460 N. 64th St.
You can also contact your local police district to see if they have gun locks available.
Please stay safe, store those guns. Also, remember, what goes up must come down.
James E. Causey started reporting on life in his city while still at Marshall High School through a Milwaukee Sentinel high school internship. He's been covering his hometown ever since, writing and editing news stories, projects and opinion pieces on urban youth, mental health, employment, housing and incarceration. Email him at [email protected]; follow him on X @jecausey.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: God forbid if someone is killed by firing guns into air to celebrate
