If you shoot into the sky, what will happen if the bullet falls and hits someone?

What happens if you shoot into the sky and the bullet falls and hits someone? Regarding this issue, there has been a lot of heated discussion on a military forum recently. Some friends think that the weight of an ordinary bullet is only 10-20 grams, which is about the same as a small stone. When a firearm fires a bullet, it is affected by the air. Due to the resistance, it is estimated that if it falls and hits someone, it will not cause serious harm. At most, they will suffer minor injuries, and the damage effect will be very small.

Some friends feel that it is nothing at all, because this scene often appears in movies, TV series or in reality. Sometimes in war-themed movies, when a prestigious general sacrifices his life for the country, the soldiers are bidding him farewell. During the last leg of the journey, firearms will be used to fire bullets into the sky to show respect. In other cases, when some countries celebrate major festivals, ceremonial performances, wealthy people's investment in opening a business, or the wedding of their children, they will also fire guns into the sky to show their grandeur. If bullets could fall and injure people at this time, they would have been explicitly prohibited.

What is the truth? If you use an ordinary firearm to fire an ordinary bullet into the sky, are the consequences really not serious? Let’s take the Type 95 rifle independently developed by our country and selected as one of the six famous guns in the world as an example; we know that the Type 95 rifle fires a small-caliber bullet with a caliber of 5.8 mm. The full bullet weighs 12.7 grams and has a muzzle velocity of 930 meters/second. , it can easily penetrate 3 mm A3 steel plate within an effective range of 400 meters, and has great penetration and killing power.

After testing, when a Type 95 automatic rifle is used to fire bullets into the sky, due to the effect of resistance, the average flight speed of the bullets during free fall is one-tenth that of the time of launch. In other words, the moment the bullet hits the ground or hits the target, its flight speed is still as high as 93 meters/second. As we all know, an ordinary bullet, when its muzzle velocity reaches 61 meters/second, already has powerful killing power and can easily penetrate the human body.

According to reports, in the Philippines in 2012, in order to celebrate the New Year, the police department fired into the sky at the party to welcome the new year, injuring 59 spectators on the spot. Therefore, we know that if a real gun is fired into the sky and the bullet falls and hits someone, the killing effect cannot be underestimated, and it may be fatal if not careful.

As I said just now, why do countries still perform centralized gun firing performances in reality? This is mainly because what is fired now is not ordinary bullets, but blank bullets with no lethal effect. Such bullets are often used in military exercises.