Magazine|How to Tell Gunfire From Fireworks
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By Malia Wollan
“Listen for the cadence,” says Scott Beisner, a public-safety specialist for ShotSpotter, which has installed acoustic sensors in more than 100 cities to capture and locate where shots are fired. “When somebody pulls a trigger, they tend to pull it in a fairly steady rhythm until the end, when their finger gets tired,” Beisner says. A series of evenly spaced bang-bang-bang sounds is much more likely to be a gun than the more sporadic ba-bang, ba-ba-ba-ba-bang of firecrackers. When sensors record a gunlike noise in, say, Cape Town or Chicago, software analyzes it for the sonic signatures of gunfire, and within seconds Beisner and his team listen to those audio files and look at those recorded waveforms at their office in Newark, Calif. Confirmed or suspected gunfire incidents are then reported to the local police.
If you live in a city with gun violence, you may have seen residents posting the “Gunshots or fireworks?” question to social media sites after they hear something suspicious. Even Beisner, a former police officer who has listened to thousands of recordings of both sounds, can’t always tell the difference. Pay attention to the intensity of each pulse. “With fireworks, you might have a small bang followed by a loud bang,” Beisner says. Multiple shots fired from a single gun will each be equally loud — around 140 decibels in the case of a handgun. A small-caliber gun, like a .22 rifle, will generally be quieter than a larger one, like a 12-gauge shotgun. From a high-velocity assault rifle like an AR-15 that has been modified to be fully automatic, you will probably hear more than two dozen shots in quick succession. If you notice any kind of whistling before the pop, “that’s a dead giveaway it’s a bottle rocket,” Beisner says.
Sound waves reverberate and bounce off buildings, decaying along the way, making it very difficult for an ear to determine the location of a blast or to note which way the sound is traveling. A handgun shot can be heard about a mile away. At that distance, though, it might sound “almost like somebody tapping on a table,” Beisner says. In cities that deploy ShotSpotter, the company installs 20 to 25 sensors per square mile, to more accurately pinpoint the location of a shooter.
Don’t assume that what you’re hearing on New Year’s Eve or the Fourth of July are fireworks; the weeks around these holidays also see spikes in celebratory gunfire. “People pull off a couple of rounds into the air,” Beisner says. “Remember that those bullets have to come down somewhere.”
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A version of this article appears in print on , Page
19
of the Sunday Magazine
with the headline:
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I can provide insight into distinguishing between gunfire and fireworks, drawing from various aspects discussed in the article you referenced from The New York Times Magazine. Scott Beisner, a public-safety specialist for ShotSpotter, contributes valuable information about this subject.
The key points to differentiate between gunfire and fireworks revolve around various auditory and contextual cues:
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Cadence and Rhythm: Gunfire tends to have a steady rhythm due to the consistent pulling of a trigger until the end when the shooter's finger tires. Firecrackers, on the other hand, produce more sporadic sounds.
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Intensity and Pattern: Fireworks typically exhibit varying intensities in their explosions, whereas shots from a gun maintain consistent intensity. Multiple shots from a gun will be equally loud, each around 140 decibels in the case of a handgun.
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Whistling and Preceding Sounds: Whistling before a pop often indicates a firework, particularly a bottle rocket.
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Frequency and Speed: High-velocity assault rifles like the modified AR-15 can produce rapid successions of shots, more than two dozen in quick order.
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Distance and Perception: Sound waves decay and bounce off structures, making it challenging to ascertain the direction or origin of the sound. At a mile's distance, a handgun shot might resemble someone tapping on a table.
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Location-based Technology: ShotSpotter utilizes acoustic sensors placed densely in urban areas to accurately pinpoint the location of gunfire, enabling swift responses by authorities.
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Contextual Awareness: Certain times like New Year's Eve or the Fourth of July witness both fireworks and celebratory gunfire, creating potential confusion. Additionally, understanding the potential danger of celebratory bullets falling back to the ground is crucial.
This comprehensive understanding combines sensory cues, technological applications like ShotSpotter's sensors, and contextual knowledge to distinguish between the two sounds. The nuances in cadence, intensity, patterns, and contextual factors are key to discerning whether the sound heard is gunfire or fireworks.
