Kirigami, the art of folding and cutting paper, has inspired a new class of structures with remarkable properties. Novel applications include: soft robotics, metamaterials, deployable structures, and energy-dissipating devices. Many studies have explored the behaviour of kirigami structures with varying cut patterns. However, investigations into the mechanics of kirigami has focused, almost exclusively, on quasi-static loading rates and linear elastic materials. Limited studies of kirigami applied to dynamic loading scenarios include a compression-actuated kirigami lantern chain for impact protection , metallic kirigami acting in tension as the foundation of a novel fall arrest system, and an energy dissipating cladding system for blast protection. Despite the potential of metallic kirigami-based energy-dissipating systems for blast and impact protection the dynamic response, especially under varying strain rates, remains largely unknown. In this study, we focus on the behaviour of kirigami under impact-induced in-plane tension loading. Using a combination of experiments, numerical simulations, and semi-analytical calculations we investigate the influence of strain rate on the mechanical behaviour of metallic kirigami. We compute a critical impact velocity beyond which the response of the kirigami switches from imperfection-dominated to the formation of a tension-induced buckling front, which consistently propagates from the loaded end. Despite this phenomenological transition, we show that the energy dissipated through plastic deformations is largely unaffected by strain rate. The results of this study will enable the robust design of novel kirigami-based energy dissipating devices for dynamic applications such as blast and impact.