A Kansas City-area woman is urging people to ring in 2014 on a celebratory and safe note, avoiding the idea of firing guns into the air.
Michele Shanahan DeMoss lost her daughter on July 4, 2011, after a stray bullet from a celebratory shooting struck and killed her.
Blair Shanahan Lane was enjoying firecrackers with her cousins moments before the shot was fired by a man in a neighboring apartment complex. Aaron Sullivan, who admitted to owning and firing the gun, is serving a three-year prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter.
DeMoss said she hopes Tuesday evening's revelry doesn't bring tragedy to another family.
"There's bells, pots and pans, lots of things you can bang when it becomes midnight tonight," she said. "I encourage people, if they hear gunfire or if they are somewhere where somebody gets out a gun, call 911. Walk away, call 911 and you may have just saved a life."
Firing guns in city limits violates municipal ordinance, but DeMoss is pushing the Missouri Legislature to make it a felony offense.