After repeated pleas by both elected and public safety officials not to engage in dangerous and sometimes deadly celebratory gunfire into the air and stern warnings about recently enacted much tougher criminal penalties in Blair’s Law for such gunfire within or into city limits in Missouri, the Kansas City Police Department released the great news that it got no reports of persons’ deaths or injuries on July 4 due to celebratory gunfire.
The KCPD also noted it got no reports of property damage from such gunfire on July 4, although several officials noted that commercial properties often receive roof damage from celebratory gunfire when they are closed, and don’t find out about it until they suffer roof leaks when it rains.
KCPD’s ShotSpotter system which covers much of the central portion of the city and can identify the precise location of gunfire and the number of shots fired, only recorded 31 incidents totaling 200 rounds fired during the 24 hours from 6 a.m. July 4 to 6 a.m. July 5 in the portion of KCMO it covers, far less than the numbers recorded in recent years on holidays such as July 4 and New Year’s Eve…