More than 53,000 people joined a Facebook campaign calling upon citizens to shoulder arms and fire at the eye of the storm, reports Ynet. Deputies in Pasco County, Florida are warning the public to not shoot their guns at Irma after the Facebook event went viral and Hurricane Irma heads to the country.
Two mischievous youths created the Facebook page, and one of them, Ryan Edwards, 22, admitted that he did is as a prank."I did it out of pressure and boredom," he said, but that didn't stop people from taking his proposal seriously.
One of those joining the campaign posted a picture of himself holding a rifle and wrote: "I'm not just going to sit and wait, I'll go straight to the eye of the storm."Others were amused: "Won't it only make the weather get even madder?"
The sherrif posted: "To clarify, DO NOT shoot weapons @ #Irma. You won't make it turn around & it will have very dangerous side effects — Pasco Sheriff (@PascoSheriff) September 10, 2017".
The Facebook page opened by Edwards and his friend was called "Hurricane Irma Shoot" and read: "We'll see Hurricane Irma in Florida - we fire first."
Fearing that the campaign would take people out into the streets and open fire at the storm, the district sheriff issued his urgent warning on Twitter.
Hurricane Irma has so far sowed destruction in the Caribbean and also hit Cuba.After it weakened temporarily, it rose to a level four (out of five) hurricane this morning, threatening to be one of the biggest storms in American history, just a week after Texas was hit by Hurricane Harvey.