評論
打印
Gun control
槍支管制
Armed robbery
持槍搶劫
Quietly, and rather politely, Britain is getting a gun lobby
不知不覺中，英國成為倡議槍支管制的一大陣營
ORYX and buffalo heads stare glumly from the walls of James Purdey & Sons, a swanky London gunmaker. In cases beneath them stand some of the priciest weapons in Britain. The firm's elaborately engraved shotguns take up to two years to produce and cost at least 80,000. Many customers buy a pair.
大羚羊及野牛滿是憂郁地凝視著普德萊家族的圍墻，這是倫敦一個有著顯著地位的槍支生產者。坐擁英國一些最昂貴的武器。該公司精巧設計的獵槍兩年時間里產出并消耗了最少十三萬五千英鎊。大客戶都是一次性購買一副。
Shooting is an expensive hobby, even without so extravagant a weapon. But licensing a gun is cheap. Owners pay only 50 to register for five years, a fee that has not risen since 2001. Police chiefs say the cash they collect covers barely a quarter of what it costs them to run the licensing scheme, and that they are spending more than 17m a year to cover the shortfall.
即使槍支不怎么昂貴，射擊仍是一項奢侈的愛好。但是獲得持槍證書就相對便宜多了。持有者只需支付50英鎊就可獲得5年有效期的持槍證，這個費用自2001年以來再也沒漲過。警察局長們說，他們收取的這些費用只夠辦理槍支許可證程序花費的四分之一，因此不得不支付一千七百萬來彌補短缺的。
That is not a big number, but it rankles at a time of austerity, the police have suffered from more than other public services. The problem is not just that inflation has eroded the value of the fee, says Andy Marsh of Hampshire Constabulary. Better monitoring of gun owners has made the system more expensive, and the workload is growing as gun ownership creeps up. Since fees were set in 2001 the number of guns held by civilians in England and Wales has risen by 14% to 1.8m, the highest number since detailed record-taking started two decades ago.
雖然數目不大，但是在緊縮時期更是雪上添霜，因為警察們比其它公共服務行業工作人員付出的還要多。問題的關鍵在于，并不是通貨膨脹侵蝕了許可費的價值，漢普郡警察安迪沼澤如是說。更好的槍支持有者的監視使得這個系統費用更加的昂貴，費用工作量也隨著持槍者的不斷增加而變大。自從2001年制定許可費以來，在英格蘭和威爾士公民持槍的數量以百分之十四增長至一百八十萬，為自開始記錄持槍人數二十年以來的最高值。
These healthy figures surprise those who thought strict gun laws brought in after a mass shooting in Scotland in 1996 would fatally wound Britain's shooting culture. That horror, and the ban on handguns that followed, encouraged gun ownership to decline for five consecutive years. But a gradual increase in the popularity of rifles, both for shooting targets and for killing deer and other animals, has since reversed the trend. Novices find it fairly easy to get a licence: despite rigorous checks police refuse less than 2% of the applications they receive.、
這些持續增長的數據使得人們感到無比的驚訝，他們認為在1996年蘇格蘭群體槍擊事件之后引入嚴格的槍支法律將對英國的槍支文化以致命打擊。那次慘案和之后的手槍禁令連續5年鼓勵減少槍支持有者數量。但是步槍流行的持續增加，射擊的靶和獵殺鹿及其他動物自那之后出現逆向增長。新手們發現獲得持槍許可證非常容易：盡管經過嚴格的審查，警察們回絕了他們收到的至少百分之二的應用申請。
As their ranks have swelled, political support for shooters has rebounded. Among the many populist pledges put forward by Nigel Farage, the leader of the UK Independence Party, is a promise to loosen gun laws if elected. Conservative bigwigs probably think that a small public subsidy for gun owners is a meagre price to placate voters in their rural heartlands—especially given that the Tories have not yet held a promised vote on repealing the ban on fox hunting for fear that MPs would vote to uphold it. In September a cabinet subcommittee blocked a plan, backed by the Home Office, to push up the gun licence fee.
隨著持槍人數量的不斷膨脹，對持槍者的政治支持也獲得了反彈。奈杰爾·法拉吉推進的多數平民誓言中，英國獨立黨領袖許諾如果當選的話，將放寬槍支管制。保守派的大亨們很可能會認為對持槍者的一小點政府補助是對在他們農村中心地帶的選民們一種低代價的慰藉，尤其是考慮到托利黨出于擔心議員們投票的支持而還沒有接受廢除獵狐禁令的選票。九月一次由內政部做東的內閣小組會議上阻止了關于提高槍支許可費用的計劃。
Britain's discreet but well-connected shooting lobby accepts that sooner or later a fee increase is inevitable. It demands that police cut bureaucracy from the licensing process before asking gun owners to stump up more. This stubbornness seems to have prodded officers into patching the system up, but it would be wise to wave through a deal. Shooting down a small rise this year would probably mean having to stomach a loftier one in future, especially if the Tories lose the next general election. That would be a worthless trophy.
英國的謹慎而又有著良好關系網的射擊說客已然認識到許可費提高是不可避免的。這就需要警察們在要求槍支持有者多掏費用之前，放下他們在許可證辦理過程中的官僚主義。這一棘手之事似乎鞭策著官員們來修補整個行政系統，但是通過交易來平息這一波折顯得更加明智。今年壓制了小規模的槍支持有者增長，意味著因小失多，將來可能不得不接受更多損失，尤其是當托利黨下次競選中失利。這將是件毫無價值的戰利品。
