MIAMI – Commissioner Audrey M. Edmonson and City of Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado asked the public once again not to celebrate New Year's Eve with gunfire at a press conference held Dec. 30 at Gibson Park in Overtown.
Each year, they are joined by members of the clergy and police departments in reminding the public that "One Bullet Kills the Party."
The Commissioner and the Mayor were joined by State Rep. Dwight Bullard, City of Miami Chief of Police Manuel Orosa, Miami-Dade County Police Director J.D. Patterson, and City of Miami Gardens Chief of Police Paul Miller, as well as members of the clergy including Rev. Reginald Jean-Marie of Notre Dame D’Haiti Catholic Church, who offered a moment of prayer.
"It is imperative that during the holiday season we lock the guns up in a safe place or turn them in to the police," Edmonson said. "Celebratory gun fire can cause senseless harm to people and property and it is why, despite the repetition, we need to remind people that when a bullet goes up, it must come down and you, a loved one, a neighbor –someone distance away from where you are – can become victim in its path."
According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), bullets shot into the air can climb two miles and then fall at a rate of 300 to 700 feet per second.
Edmonson participates in this public message prior to every Independence Day and New Year’s Eve to warn residents of the dangers of celebratory gunfire.
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