Was that fireworks … or gunshots?
It’s fireworks season again in the city, and New Yorkers are asking — to partners next to them in bed, strangers on the street at dusk and neighbors in a group text — the eternal urban question about what they just heard.
Knowing the difference between the near-distant sounds of gunfire and that of pyrotechnics can be important. While both acts are generally illegal in New York, distinguishing between them may determine whether you run for cover and call 911 — or complain about the noise and call 311 (there’s a form for that).
“People have been asking this type of question for a while,” said John V. Goodpaster, a chemist at Indiana University who studied explosives in a laboratory for the…
