As a fairly new gun owner it certainly crossed my mind that I could fire one of my handguns in the city on New Year’s Eve as the clock struck midnight and people would probably think it was just fireworks.
But as a responsible gun owner, I knew I’d never do such a thing because there is just too much risk of someone potentially getting hurt from a ricochet or for someone to call the cops on me for unlawfully discharging a firearm in the city.
In fact as I celebrated bringing in the new year, I heard what was clearly gunshots being fired not far from my home. (If you’ve ever been to the gun range more than once, you’ll find it’s easy to tell the difference between fireworks and gunshots.)
Nobody was hurt in my neighborhood that I know of, thankfully. But that wasn’t the case in Texas where a lawmaker was actually struck in the top of the head from what is believed to be a stray .223 caliber bullet.
He’s now in the hospital recovering:
CNN – A Texas lawmaker is lucky to be alive after an apparently stray bullet hit his head during a New Year’s celebration early Sunday, authorities said.
State Rep. Armando “Mando” Martinez, D-Weslaco, said his wife had just given him a kiss shortly after ringing in the new year with family and friends, and the next thing he knew, “it felt like a sledgehammer hit me over the head.”
A bullet fragment had just punctured the top of the south Texas legislator’s head.
Martinez said he had just stepped outside a home in a rural neighborhood north of Weslaco when he was hit.
Martinez, 40, was transferred to the neurosurgical unit at Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen, where surgeons removed the bullet fragment. The fragment had penetrated his skull and lodged itself into the dura mater, the top layer of the brain, doctors told Martinez.
The fragment appears to be from a .223 caliber round, said Martinez, who spoke to CNN by phone on Sunday while recovering at the hospital.
“Had it gone any further, I don’t think we would be having this conversation,” Martinez said.
Hidalgo County Sheriff Eddie Guerra said Martinez’s survival was nothing short of a miracle.
The sheriff’s office is investigating the shooting, and investigators “have reason to believe that (Martinez) was hit by a stray bullet,” county sheriff’s office spokesman JP Rodriguez said.
“There is no evidence to indicate he was targeted,” Rodriguez said.
“It was a miracle last night. I was given another chance at life and I’m grateful for it,” Martinez said.
For those of you who don’t know what a .223 caliber round looks like:
I’m betting some idiot was firing their AR into the air like a fool to celebrate the new year and one of the bullets came down and hit this lawmaker in the head.
Assuming this was indeed a stray bullet, I do hope the police find the person who shot this round and take away all their guns. If you’re going to be irresponsible with your firearms, then you don’t deserve to have any.