‘Survival instincts of a fruit fly’: Group of women out-America the National Anthem when they assume an actual shootout is just fireworks

Fireworks are as American as apple pie, but they sound starkly similar to something else that’s become a heartbreaking state-side staple: Gunfire.

Gun violence is a tragic constant in American life, and it’s become so everyday that some of our citizens don’t even recognize the danger it presents. To be fair, the women featured in a video circulating around TikTok are utterly wasted, but that doesn’t make their fully-loaded misunderstanding any less terrifying.

A video posted to user @gnomefamilia’s TikTok account shows the moment a group of American revelers mistake a real-life shootout for firecrackers, in perhaps the most star-spangled moment to ever make its way onto the internet. The ladies are headed to their cars — which they are hopefully not driving — after a night on the town when noisy pops start to sound off mere blocks away, and do these ladies panic? They most certainly do not, even though they absolutely should have.

The leading lady of this particular nugget of internet sundry is in control of the camera, and is also the primary culprit in a potentially-deadly misunderstanding. Clearly inebriated and still riding high on a fun night out, the wrecked reveler soothes her companions’ concerns as soon as the pops begin. Incorrectly assuring her friends that what they’re hearing is “firecrackers,” not gunfire, the fearless woman even misses the terrifying sound of a bullet whizzing past her body. The camera does not, however, which provided viewers with front-row seats to a misjudgment of near-fatal proportions.

Thankfully, all of the ladies in question seemingly walked away from their near-miss unscathed, despite flirting with danger for a full half-minute. They certainly gave viewers a fright, however, earning them thousands of comments from petrified onlookers, the majority of whom were aghast at the close call they just witnessed.

“Her guardian angle was working over time with this one,” one commenter aptly noted, alongside jokes that the “camera man always unharmed.”

Commenters, past stressing over how close a few of those bullets got, also spent their time debating exactly what level of survival instincts these girlies are packing. From fruit fly, worm, and fully-dead snail to Dodo bird and capybara, it’s clear that commenters don’t have a high opinion of these ladies’ ability to stay alive.

There’s something to be said for desensitization, of course, but there’s also something to be said for those Americans with a heightened (instead of reduced) survival instinct where gun violence is concerned. After all, our nation is easily among those with the highest rates of gun violence in the world, and in 2024 alone we’ve already suffered more than 400 mass shootings, which are classified as a shooting in which multiple people are injured or killed. From those more than 400 shootings, upwards of 520 people have been killed, and nearly 2,000 people have been injured.

In one year alone. Not even a year, actually, since that data comes from August of 2024, and since the start of September we’ve seen even more gun violence risk the lives of American citizens. It’s a horrifying time to live through, as politicians shrug off suggestions to curb this heartbreaking American tradition in favor of more cash and backing from the NRA.

And, as a result, we get people like those featured in @gnomefamilia’s video. Americans so desensitized to the sound of gunfire that it no longer sparks alarm. It’s simply an every day occurrence, so commonplace that its easily mistaken for something else. We live in truly terrifying times, and this video unintentionally highlights that, inebriated or not, American citizens should be able to stumble their way home without risking the chance of becoming another statistic.