The fact that they both combust using gunpowder also makes them hard to differentiate between. There are various types of fireworks, as well as myriad models of guns that make a range of noises, making it difficult to ascribe concrete sounds for each device. This is mainly because there is no one sound that can be attributed to either medium.

Unfortunately, telling the difference between gunshots and fireworks is not as simple as watching a YouTube video. “Anyone else here because they're home and it's close to the 4th of July and you can't tell what the huge bang noises outside are?”

This is why around New Year’s and the Fourth of July, there’s always an increase in calls to 911 and law enforcement agencies because no one can tell what they are hearing - and whether or not they should be concerned.Īs one user wrote in the comments section of a YouTube video about the difference between gunshots and fireworks: And, of course, crimes can happen anytime, anywhere, regardless of whether or not it’s a holiday. Celebratory gunshots - when people shoot straight into the air for fun - are also commonly fired. In 2018, Americans purchased $945,000,000 worth of consumer- and personal-use fireworks, spending more than $60,000,000 than the year before.Īnd fireworks probably won’t be the only sounds you’ll notice. Use of both legal and illegal fireworks, as well as other pyrotechnic explosives, always spikes on these holidays, with their popularity growing each year. Even though the legalities of owning, selling, purchasing, or using fireworks vary by state, you’re almost guaranteed to hear them on New Year’s Eve or Independence Day. January 1st and July 4th are the two most common times of the year when this kind of confusion is likely to happen. To the human ear, gunshots and fireworks sound similar, and even police officers have a hard time identifying between them.

The sounds of gunshots and fireworks can be incredibly difficult to tell apart, and there’s no one way to tell the difference.

If you’ve ever heard a loud noise outside of your home, you’ve probably wondered the same thing. Moore was one of the 22,000 concertgoers who’d attended the event, and likely not the only person who, at first, mistook the gunshots for fireworks. The date was October 1, 2017, the night when a malicious gunman opened fire on a crowd at the Route 91 Harvest music festival, killing 59 people and injuring more than 400. “I turned towards Mandalay Bay thinking, ‘I’ll see sparks pretty soon.’” “I thought they were fireworks,” Moore told TIME. It wasn’t the Fourth of July - or even a holiday - when Kelly Moore heard the loud sounds on the Las Vegas Strip, but she automatically assumed they were celebratory in nature.

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