At home watching TV and you hear...

[Spitpatch]

Yup, and I always shove 'er in neutral and coast that last bit to the house.

(this is all lost on anybody but you an' me, trlsmn.)

Now, having said that, I believe you can see my point that bullets striking houses are not a real regular happening thing. Cars striking houses (and hurting people) are a real happening thing. And I guess I left out the central question for comparison: Are you afraid of every car you hear driving by? You have much more reason to be.

If one bullet of that heard volley (giving the benefit of the teller's evaluation that they were gunshots) hit my house, I would certainly take some action and not assume the rest would not be coming my way. This takes me out of Garp's philosophy, but not where coasting the rig to home is concerned.

 

[Trlsmn]

 

[eriknemily]

And if you are like eriknemilynme, ...

NICE

 

[longcolt]

I think I would just hide under the bed with my stuffed teddy!

Let the authorities sort it out.

 

[Karma]

I use to date a woman out in a rural area outside of Dallas where you could hear firearms being discharged on a nighly basis where if I did not hear gunshots it would be strange.

LOL. That was probably me.

Out in the country when you hear gunshots at night it is probably someone getting their meat to stock the freezer back up, or as has been the case a few times a cityboy strayed into the wrong persons shed and got a taste of rocksalt.

 

[chemist]

Anybody here familiar with the term "stochastic?" The probability of your house (or your teddy) getting hit by stray gunfire or a car or a meteor is not changed by its bullet/auto/meteor impact history.

Personally, I make a written note of it whenever I'm alerted by strange noises at night, and then see if it correlates with anything on the news the next day. No hits yet.

 

[TAT2D]

"T. S. Garp: We'll take the house. Honey, the chances of another plane hitting this house are astronomical. It's been pre-disastered. We're going to be safe here."

If you want to fly safely, always take a bomb with you. While the chances of there being one bomb on the plane are remote, the chances of there being two are vanishingly small.

MrB

 

[gnarl]

I live within a quarter mile of a shotgun/rifle/pistol range...Sunday afternoons I sometimes just lay back in the yardchair and grin a little...

 

[chariot13]

Probably do nothing, heard this a few times when I lived in San Diego & a couple times living in downtown Eugene. I don't see any reason in calling anyone over noise, unless it was continous & i couldn't sleep or something.

 

[Mark W.]

eriknemily had it right. (both of them if emily had any input).

In the pioneer days, during settlement of the frontier it was said that if you heard a shot in the valley, it was time to move on.

For eriknemily in dairy country, and where I live, the reverse is actually true:

If you don't hear a shot in the valley, its time to move on.

Let's put this in perspective: Do a statistical analysis in your town/neighborhood: how many cars run into houses? This figure I believe can be easily obtained with some careful research. I believe it is a tangible number, and at a rare but measurable rate.

Now: how many bullets run into houses in the same area? I believe this is not easily obtained, and is not a tangible number or a measurable rate.

I think it is not necessary to compare the relative danger of a bullet striking a house to the relative danger of an automobile striking a house. Even if bullets were striking houses in your neighborhood at a rate that was measurable and tangible and perhaps comparable to the rate of auto collisions with houses, I am certain the injury rate to human beings could never compare.

What you experienced were noises. Do not indoctrinate your family to fear noises.

And if you are like eriknemilynme, you consider the noises you described to be a comforting sound of freedom and happiness, and what is right.

There was a family on the radio today who have had their house hit three times by cars in like a couple years. The last time either last night or the night before a drunk crashed his car into their garage hitting the freezer inside the garage and shoving it into their three year old playing in the garage sending him to the hospital.

So there is 3 for you count.

 

[Burt Gummer]

A Compton resident would really get a chuckle out of this. They wouldn't even leave the dinner table let alone hide on the floor in the dark.

 

[Daev]

A Compton resident would really get a chuckle out of this. They wouldn't even leave the dinner table let alone hide on the floor in the dark.

I don't know about Compton... but I've lived in North Philly and spent a few months living in 9th ward New Orleans... and that sums up my likely reaction quite nicely.

 

[DieselScout]

Turn up the TV and get another beer.

 

[One-Eyed Ross]

I would do nothing. Figure it's just the neighbors shooting. Of course, I don't live in town, so my opinion won't count...

 

[enjr4]

It happens around here every month or so. Couple of shots, bang, bang, then nothing. More than four bangs I get a little nervous. Most of the time I figure someone just put a gun back together and just plain couldn't wait to see if it works. I have been temped to do that myself. Might have if it wouldn't scare the heck out of the neighbors. They already think I am a gun nut.

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

One good reason not to live in the city. Out here in dairy land that's just a neighborly way to say good howdy partner

Exactly. When I hear gunfire I try to guess what firearm they are shooting (ie- "hmm, sounds like a .45, 8-round strings, must be a 1911") and question why I am not doing the same thing myself at that moment.

 

[Redcap]

I hear gunfire often and don't think a damn thing of it. One of the bonuses of living out in the sticks where all of your neighbors shoot.

 

[G1GRANDEUR]

Empty the fridge and use it as a shield.

Unless I know what's going on, just call 911 and let them deal with it, no need to be bad-***.

 

[hermannr]

All of my neighbors shoot, and all have more or less safe ranges they have built on their properties. The most I do is try to identify who is shooting what weapon, and who is visiting whom.

I did hear one single shot at a very strange time of day(05:00) one time, followed by an ATV taking off at high speed....it was "who just poached a deer"? no fear, just wondering. Most people up here look down on poaching "our" deer.

 

[One-Eyed Ross]

You can tell by the responses who lives in rural country and who lives in town/city....

You guys need to move out where you can breath and shoot by going into the back yard..