Florida...You got to do something about your gun situation. I actually told my neighbor it appeared he has a penis problem.
The 4th of July and New Years Eve is trying for pets AND combat vets.
We tried to have a bonfire last night and we live in the City Limits. You can have a small bonfire as long as it is contained and there is a pit and a hose nearby. We sit around the fire and toast marshmallows and eat popcorn while the kids play around the pool area with beach balls or table tennis. We normally ring in the New Year with Kiddie sparklers and reflecting gazes into the bonfire.
Every holiday it is progressively getting worse, not with firecrackers but shotguns and pistols in residential communites. People sitting on the front porch firing live rounds of ammo into a tree when any stray bullet could hit a passing car or neighbor….like us right across the street, for example and people seem to be accept this behavior as the norm. One of our neighbors ( the companion) visits us quite a bit and the kids play here often and the situation has become so troubling that I don’t let the kids in the front yard anymore. We have a good guy with a gun who resides across the street... ( The Bonfire was in back). It is our family tradition of Indian roots and we do this every single New Years Eve. We stay outside. We can no longer enjoy this tradition. Last night proved that. This morning there tried to be an apology to us when I spoke my mind and spoke it firmly.
It was around 10PM when we noticed gunshots not fireworks, rapidly firing and yes you can tell the difference especially when the offender’s significant other is sitting right there at the bonfire and confirms Steve and yes that is his real name is a responsible gun owner and shooing his gun into a tree from his front porch which is not ten steps from the street and less than 30 steps from our front yard and all of our bedrooms and living room is in the front facing that house. The responsible gun owner wants to come over to the bonfire and Jack sends word not to bring that gun into our yard. His significant other and her kids are here playing but he decides to sit and continue to shoot the tree. ( Dumbass ). The gunfire continues….. The fireworks are blasting and that we can accept but our older kids decide not to come outside as it is dangerous with all the guns in the neighborhood blazing and Jack and me tell people to just come inside. ( not that this was any safer).
Florida has a law about streets, and neighborhoods but this county does not enforce the State laws regarding discharging firearms in a residential community in fact a scroll line from the Tampa news agency discouraged people on this holiday not to shoot weapons in the air. I think this is as stupid a reminder as it gets. If these people are responsible gun owners then they should know that this is dangerous much less counting on their aim to be good enough to hit their target or not ricochet from bark to people. We have law enforcement that live on this street but that does not matter.
We ended up watching the History channel till we went to bed. The neighbor’s companion could not believe how nervous this all made my husband and I was getting more aggravated by the minute especially when our adult college kid said she was really afraid of the shooting frenzie going on so she and her boyfriend were heading back to his Grandmother’s.
When the neighbor who was here asked if her daughter could stay the night I said “ no”. There were too many shattered nerves for overnight guests.
This morning the neighbor came over and offered an apology for Steve’s shooting celebration as she saw how it affected Jack and the family and he saw the bullet ridden front yard tree. I spoke my mind. I said, “ He IS NOT A RESPONSIBLE GUN OWNER “.. His right to bear arms does not give him the right to endanger residential communities and his rights should not infringe on mine. I also said,
I personally think he has a penis problem and needs that gun to prove some sort of something lacking. My husband can shoot the eye out of a mosquito but he does not feel the need to fire off weapons and endanger lives. I also said, “ He had enough of shooting in Vietnam in the war zone so he doesn’t care to be a target anymore.” I then went on to say, “Look you were here. It was dangerous. I won’t continue to let these little episodes slide.” He owes the apology but I don’t think he wants to apologize to me because I will tell him straight up I am going to try and approach congresscritters to enact legislation to make this reckless behavior a felony. I also will file charges for Child endangerment for us and every kid on this street including yours. This is no longer about Vets with PTSD and startle reaction, this is a real danger to the entire family. Maybe we should all be hitting the ground when the gunfire starts for some RESPONSIBLE gun owner’s pleasure across the street. I felt sorry for her as she tried to tell him he had to put the guns away but whether he does or not is questionable. I said, “ It’s too late when some innocent person is shot”. I am doing something about this. Steve is a vet but never served in any war and sounds to me like did not get enough training on gun safety.
As I shut the door and sat down and turned on the television this AM….what is the first thing I hear? This !
Nine-year-old girl was shot in the arm just after midnight, possibly the result of celebratory gunfire, Orlando police said.
Officers responded to a church in the 800 block of South Kirkman Road after receiving reports of a shooting victim.
The girl, who police have not identified, had just left church when she was hit in the right arm by the bullet, police said.
She was treated at the scene by the Orlando Fire Department. No bullet was recovered at the scene, police said.
Officers have no suspect information because the round "seemed to be from the voluminous amounts of gunfire" happening at the time.
Well, it wasn’t our neighborhood…. THIS TIME… Same thing...Same problem.