Local Revelers Warned of Gunfire Danger

Citing “the inherent danger of bullets falling from the sky,” Ventura County Sheriff-designate Larry Carpenter urged revelers to refrain from shooting guns into the air to celebrate the New Year.

Although no one has been hurt in Ventura County by errant gunfire, the potential for tragedy is there, Carpenter said.

“The real dangers are . . . with the persons who, in a drunken state, shoot off in an arc so that the bullet comes . . . straight into the house or living room.”

The Sheriff’s Department and city police forces throughout the county will have hundreds of officers on the street to stop the celebratory practice that has posed a continual problem in Oxnard, Fillmore and elsewhere in the county.

In past years, Oxnard police have distributed flyers and aired commercials in Spanish and English warning residents of the dangers of the New Year’s Eve practice. With the campaigns, Oxnard police spokesman David Keith said, the number of gunfire calls on New Year’s Eve went down.

But he said the six-year-old public education campaign about the dangers of firing weapons into the air was deflated along with the economy. “This year . . . we haven’t been able to do anything,” Keith said.

So police are depending on cooperation from the public and a boosted patrol force. “We will have maximum staffing that night,” Keith said. “It’s one of the busiest nights of the year along with Halloween.”

Firing a gun into the air, he added, is a misdemeanor punishable by a $500 fine and/or six months jail time.

East county sheriff’s deputies also see the problem every year.

“It seems like it’s common to have that type of thing out in the Moorpark area, especially at the stroke of 12,” Sgt. Bruce Watlington said.

“We get . . . so backlogged with that that it takes a while to get to all the calls,” he said.

When guns are fired into the air, a bullet sometimes ends up in a residence, police said.

“It usually goes into roofs,” Oxnard Senior Traffic Officer Don Mulville said. “Mobile homes are a particular problem because their roofs don’t have much substance.”

Carpenter said the potential for confrontation also grows on New Year’s Eve.

“We’ll receive calls about gunfire,” Carpenter said. A deputy who arrives to find a celebrant holding a gun might react quickly, Carpenter said.

“If the person is confused or has been celebrating and has had some alcohol, you have the potential for a fatal incident.”

Last New Year’s Eve in Oxnard alone, police received 28 reports of gunfire between 11:45 p.m. and 12:15 a.m. No injuries resulted from the practice, but Carpenter said he doesn’t know how long it will be before a life is lost.

Carpenter hesitated to characterize one community or another in the county as more likely to have more New Year’s Eve gunfire, but he did say, as a resident of Fillmore, that he is personally aware of the problem there.

Watlington said that when he was on patrol in the east county, deputies took cover at midnight on New Year’s Eve.

“If we were in the Moorpark area around that time, we would head for areas that had overhangs.”

And Carpenter’s prescription for staying safe on New Year’s Eve is simple:

“I would say it would be prudent to remain indoors at the midnight hour. Beyond that, it’s difficult to advise people. You better hope you have neighbors who leave their guns out of the celebration.”