&gt; I would say &quot;violence&quot; requires a certain intent, whereas firing shots into the air is merely ridiculously stupid and reckless.<p>I think (and this is where I probably differ from other people) that the discharge of a death-dealing weapon that is far deadlier than a gun or a knife implies at least a <i>potential</i> for violence. I guess I wouldn&#x27;t go so far as to classify a death from it as actual violent crime though, which seems to be what you are driving at.<p>To explain this analogy a bit, if a drunk person is running down the street swinging a chainsaw for purposes of &quot;celebrating&quot; New Year, do you think he will be reported to the police as potentially violent? Why should drunks firing guns be different?