LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The arrival of the New Year is often met with celebratory gunshots -- a tradition that causes headaches for local police departments.

So now they're bracing to be swamped with calls reporting gunfire this New Year.

As the training director for Louisville Armory, Ken Pagano has spent more than a decade teaching students how to safely load and fire guns.

Louisville Armory is a shooting range located at 4400 Kiln Court.

"Keep your finger off the trigger on the slide," he told a student. "Always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction." 

Every year around New Year's Eve and on the 4th of July, he notices a very dangerous -- and potentially deadly -- trend.

"You gotta be safe, and shooting a gun up in the air is just irresponsible and it just gives a bad name to gun owners," he said. 

Celebratory gunfire is something that, quite literally, has hit home for Pagano.

"I've actually had bullets impact my roof in my house stuck in the roof and I take pictures of it," he said. "So I show it to my students in my classes. This is what you don't do with a firearm." 

Between New Year's Eve and New Year's Day last year, nearly 900 shots were registered on LMPD's Shotspotters in a six square-mile area of Louisville.

While some of those registered shots could have been fireworks, police departments across the area expect to get reports of random gunfire during the holiday.

"I think police all over the nation make phone calls or make or get phone calls for gunfire and fireworks," said Eddie Jones, assistant chief of St. Matthews Police.

Jones says what comes up must come down and a bullet can reach a velocity of 200 feet per second or more, which can easily injure a person.

"There's stories every year of property damage," Jones said. "There has been some cases and some cities where people have actually been hit by gunfire. So we don't want that to happen. We don't want anybody to needlessly be injured for a celebration."

Jones says over the holiday his department is sometimes inundated with calls about fireworks, which officers can't always respond to.

But calls about gunfire are prioritized.

"If it's a situation where you know that there's somebody shooting a gun into the area, it's a dangerous situation," Jones said. "Call the police and we will respond to it."

Pagano hopes people choose to celebrate the New Year responsibly and save shooting for safer environments like gun ranges.

"Come out and shoot," he said. "Let someone teach you the proper way, and just come and have fun." 

Additionally, Lt. Col. Steve Healey of the Louisville Metro Police Department, issued this statement in a video on YouTube Friday morning about the dangers of celebratory gunfire:

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