Gomez Case

Words: 1859
Pages: 8

The small, middle class town of Winnemucca, Nevada was rocked when 30-year-old Ernesto Villa Gomez, bent on revenge and the continuation of what is believed to be a family feud, walked into Players Bar and Grill and opened fire in May of 2008. Two bar patrons, apparently the target of Villa Gomez’s wrath, were killed and two others, who were merely in the wrong place at the wrong time, were critically injured (Bessler, 2008). Only one factor stood between Gomez and continuation of this devastating plan to kill and injure those he perceived as enemies. A bar patron and former Marine, armed with his registered and legal handgun, shot and killed Gomez before he could continue his rampage on innocent bystanders (Bessler, 2008).
It was December
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However, in light of recent “mass shootings” it became apparent that these so called shooters opt for “soft targets” in an effort to maximize the likelihood of a large number of victims providing for a bigger headline in the media (Wills, 2013). Incidents such as the tragedies at Sandy Hook Elementary, Columbine High School and Chardon High School serve as proof positive that criminals intent on doing harm do so at venues that not only provide for the potential of a large number of victims but an environment where the “soft targets” are abundant. Though there may be additional factors, such as prior location history or motives specific to the shooters relationship to the location, it can be assumed that the location was primarily chosen due to the “easy targets” that were present at the location (Wills, …show more content…
This study provided that “where firearms are most dense violent crime rates are the lowest, and where guns are least dense violent crime rates are the highest” (Kates, Mauser, 2007). To effectively address the question of gun control within the United States, it is imperative to examine the question and the control measures taken in other similar countries. For example, let’s look at the United Kingdom, where handgun ownership was banned in 1997 after Thomas Watt Hamilton opened fire with several pistols in Dunblane School. He took the lives of 13 kids before he turned the gun on himself (Wilkinson, 2013). Following this, England enacted a law banning private ownership of handguns in mainland England. However, it is worth noting that, following the ban, the number of gun related incidents rose in a steady fashion till it reached its peak of 24,000 offenses in 2003/4 (Wilkinson, 2013). The largest shooting in English history took place nearly 20 years after the ban when a lone gunman killed 12 people in a four-hour shooting spree (Wilkinson,