It is sad to say, but in Athens, Alabama, not to far from where I live, a 5-year old girl was killed by celebratory gunfire on New Years Eve.  I was a little surprised by this story.  This is only my second New Years in Alabama and neither time did I ever hear any celebratory gunfire.  It’s true, I live close to Redstone Arsenal and any bullets that land there will be dealt with heavily by the Federal authorities.  But still.  Northern Alabama may have its fair share of “hold my beer and watch this” types.  If it was a story about some idiot blowing his hand off with a home made firework, I’d buy it.  But shooting guns up in the air… that’s not really our style.

Then I read past the headline to the story.  Not to sound like a prejudiced asshole, but the shooters name is Fidel Rodriguez Canchola.  Now it’s all coming together.  The times that I have heard the most celebratory gunfire were in the Central American areas of Miami and the Mexican American areas of Chicagoland.  Firing guns into the air is common in the Middle East and Mexico/Central America.  It’s true.  Sorry.  I’m not saying it is exclusively a Hispanic issue, but when I read about people getting arrested for firing guns up into the air on New Years, the names have … kind of a similar persuasion.

This is a fact noticed by the non-profit, Bullet Free Sky, when they realized that had to start releasing their PSA in Spanish.

I’m going to keep my eye on this story, because honestly, I have my suspicion that Mr. Canchola may not be here legally.  Perhaps this is a prejudiced guess, but again, when it comes to my experience with celebratory gunfire, there are trends.

The only reason I am even blogging about this is because I broke the rule, never read the comments.  I don’t think any of the antis who posted a response read past the headline.

First we have the obligatory redneck comments, because Alabama = redneck.

I’m not saying we don’t have rednecks, or that they don’t do dumb stuff.  But celebratory gunfire isn’t really a redneck thing.

Then we have some people who managed to make this anti-Trump.  Why the hell not.  If you are going to hate on a Red State, might as well toss in some anti-Trump while you are at it.

Classy, nothing like mourning a tragedy like wishing for a genocide.

Then came the people that blamed this on the NRA and/or the 2A.

Then we have this thread full of anti-Southern, self righteousness.

I wonder if Buz Kearns thinks that Mr. Fidel Rodriguez Canchola is the same kind of “white Hispanic” that  George Zimmerman is?  I guess if it helps him fit the narrative.

BTW, we don’t tolerate celebratory gunfire here in Alabama either.  Just so everybody north of the Mason-Dixon gets that.

I loved this comment.

I’m banking on Mr. Conchola being here illegally.  LeftCoastLeftie’s sarcasm may be 100% accurate.

The only really reasonable comment thread was from James Graves.

I agree 100%.  It is a stupid Thrid World practice that we should not tolerate in the US and should punish severely.

But for the holier-than-thou antis, why address the problem when you can attack the NRA and make fun of the South?