A man pulls out a gun and shoots 54 rounds in the direction of a mall. He is not aiming at any people, nor does he hit any people or structures. The only injuries that occur happen after panicked bystanders, understandably upset after the mall shooting in Oregon and the Newtown mass murders, knocked over a mother and her 4-year-old daughter.
Is Marcos Gurrola, 42, guilty of a crime? Assuming his confession and the evidence holds up, yes. This isn't his first shooting escapade either. According to the Orange County Register, he confessed to 10 other shootings since April, as well as an incident at the Fashion Mall last year, when 10 rounds were discharged into the air.
He deserves punishment. The question is, how much?
Prosecutors have charged him with 54 counts of discharging a gun in public (one per bullet) and two counts of assault for the injuries sustained to the mother and daughter for last weekend's shooting. They've also charged him with 10 counts for last year's mall shooting and may add more counts once the other 10 incidents are investigated.
So far, he is facing up to 115 years in prison for a series of mostly victimless crimes.
Consider the following scenarios:
- Someone litters by throwing his empty soda cup and bag of fast-food trash out of his car window. If he throws it all at once, is that a single offense? If he has to use two throwing motions because the soda was super-sized, is that two offenses?
- Someone pulls out a firearm and fires 54 rounds into the air. If he was using a fully automatic weapon, he would have only pulled the trigger once (assuming the magazine had a large enough capacity). If he was using a semi-automatic weapon, he has to pull the trigger 54 times in rapid succession. Should that count as 54 different offenses? Should the two crimes be punished differently?
For Marcos Gurrola's Fashion Mall shooting, prosecutors seem to be counting each trigger pull as a separate offense, leading to a possible sentence of 115 years. Is such a severe sentence fair for firing a gun at no one?
Related Resources:
ny times NRA paul mccartney Sandy Hook Victims new york times columbine breaking news
কোন মন্তব্য নেই:
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন