Gunshots Ring Out in Viral Video as Woman Shares 'Christmas in the South'

A woman has shared on social media footage with gunshots ringing out, saying it shows how people celebrate "Christmas in the South."

Under the handle wabbyrose, Abby Graves posted on TikTok an 11-second clip showing her outside an unspecified property. She describes her location as being "the middle of nowhere."

"This is Christmas in the South," she says in the video before affecting a Southern accent to add: "Neighbors got them new guns for Christmas, I guess."

The sound of at least five gunshots is audible in the video. Graves says in the caption accompanying the video: "Not joking this has been going on for 20+ minutes."

The video has been watched over 10 million times on the platform. Newsweek has contacted Graves for comment via email.

Gun ownership and gun control continue to divide the U.S. A 2022 Gallup Poll found that 51 percent of Americans did not have a gun in their home but 45 percent did.

Another Gallup Poll, from this past March, highlighted how guns remain a major concern for many U.S. citizens. Forty-four percent of respondents said they worried about the issue a great deal, while just 17 percent said they thought about it a "fair amount" and 18 percent said they considered it "only a little." Twenty percent said they did not think about the issue at all.

Graves' video certainly aroused concern among those watching it on TikTok. "Yikes," one viewer commented in reaction to the gunfire noise.

"This is also how it is in a small town in the midwest," another user wrote. A third said: "The same thing happened and I thought somebody's daddy snapped on Christmas."

Another wrote: "Someone was rapid firing a gun next to my house at 12:00am on Christmas morning," while one user said: "That's Christmas for us here in Alberta."

Some of the comments were about receiving guns as gifts for Christmas. "My friend got a cannon yesterday," one user wrote, with another commenting: "My brother got a cannon."

It's difficult to know whether those remarks were true or made tongue in cheek. Whatever the case, the footage comes at a time when concern over gun safety remains very much in the public consciousness following a series of shootings.

Earlier this month, a Republican hoping to represent the U.S. House district that includes Uvalde, Texas, drew criticism after sharing an image of himself posing with an assault rifle on Christmas.

On X (formerly Twitter), Brandon Herrera is seen wearing a holiday-themed sweater in front of a Christmas tree and holding a large assault rifle. The image quickly drew outrage from those who pointed out that 21 people, including 19 children, were killed with an assault rifle in the May 2022 mass shooting at Uvalde's Robb Elementary School.

The holidays have provided no respite from shooting incidents in the U.S. In New Orleans, three men were injured during a shooting in the city's French Quarter on Christmas Eve. In Colorado, a fight at a mall in the city of Colorado Springs led to a deadly shooting the same day.

In Florida, the Ocala Police Department issued a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a 39-year-old suspect in connection with a deadly shooting at the Paddox Mall this past Saturday.

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