When people ring in the New Year, there shouldn’t be a need to do so with a helmet or wondering if something is going to come crashing down upon them.

Unfortunately, in some areas of Selma, a helmet and a strong roof maybe just what is needed.

In recent years, public safety officials have strongly encouraged residents to resist — what appears to be an uncontrollable urge to take their favorite firearm outside and shoot it straight into the air. But despite their best efforts, the life-threatening act still continues.

“People need to understand — not just that it is against the law — but that it is dangerous. Those bullets have got to come down somewhere and at times, those bullets have killed,” Selma Chief of Police William T. Riley said. “It is something that we ask, all the time, people not to do. But it is something that goes on each year.”

Riley said emergency officials receive calls each year about shots being fired into the air, including calls from outside the city limits, but still within the police jurisdiction.

“Every year we receive calls from outside the city limits, but there is nothing we can do about those,” Riley said. “In Selma there is an ordinance that makes it illegal to discharge a firearm within the city limits. There is no such law in the county.

“Outside the city limits — just like fireworks — you can discharge a firearm.”

Knowing his officers will again face an active New Year’s night, with those drivers who choose to drink and drive, domestic disputes and the everyday police matters, Riley again asked Wednesday for residents to this year begin a tradition of following the law and not firing up in the air.

“We implore residents to not do it. It is extremely dangerous and it could kill someone,” Riley said. “We say it every year and we hope this is the year residents will listen and not put someone’s life at risk.”