評論
打印
Gun control
槍支管制
Never again
讓悲劇不再上演
New Zealand’s parliament bans semi-automatic rifles
新西蘭議會宣布禁持半自動槍支
Attempts to strengthen New Zealand’s gun-control laws have failed in parliament four times over the past 20 years. That was before a white supremacist laid siege to two mosques in the city of Christchurch on March 15th, killing 50 people. This week a bill to ban the kind of high-powered semi-automatic weapons that he used was introduced; every MP but one supports it. It should sail into law in days.
在過去二十年里，新西蘭槍支管制法的法律試圖加強，四次都沒有通過議會。然后，在克賴斯特徹奇市，一名白人至上主義者包圍了兩座清真寺，殺害了50人。本周，一項禁止使用大功率半自動武器的法案出臺，這種武器正是兇手使用的武器；只有一名議員反對，其余所有議員都支持這項法案。它應在幾天內成為法律。
New Zealand has one of the world’s highest rates of gun ownership, with 26 guns per 100 people. That puts it 20th out of the 230 countries and territories ranked by the Small Arms Survey, a research institute. Despite this, it ranks only 172nd out of 195 countries in terms of deaths per person from firearms, according to data from the University of Washington. Total killings with guns are typically in the single digits each year, out of a population of 4.8m.
新西蘭是世界上槍支持有率最高的國家之一，每100人就有26名持槍者。“輕武器調查”研究所對230個國家和地區(qū)的持槍率進行了排名，新西蘭位列第20名。盡管如此，根據華盛頓大學的數據，在195個國家中，新西蘭的人均槍支死亡人數僅排在172位。在480萬人口中，每年用槍殺人的總數通常只有個位數。
The already low rate of killings with guns is one reason why it will be hard to discern the new law’s effectiveness. Australia adopted similar legislation in 1996 after a mass shooting in the state of Tasmania. The Australian government banned semi-automatic rifles, created a national gun registry and bought firearms from citizens, as New Zealand intends to. The stock of licensed guns fell by about a third.
槍支殺人率本來就很低，這也是很難看出新法律有效性的原因之一。澳大利亞在塔斯馬尼亞州大規(guī)模槍擊事件后，于1996年通過了類似的法律。澳大利亞政府禁用半自動步槍，創(chuàng)建了全國槍支登記制度，從公民手中購買槍支，新西蘭正打算這樣做，登記過的槍支存量下降了三分之一。
Firearm-related suicides and homicides fell after the legislation passed. But firearm deaths had already been falling before 1996, and the pace did not notably accelerate. Moreover, gun violence was declining in many other rich countries, few of which had adopted stricter gun laws.
此項法律通過后，與槍支有關的自殺和他殺都有所減少。但在1996年以前，槍支致死人數已經在下降，而且通過法律后速度沒有明顯加快。此外，槍支暴力在許多其他富裕國家也在減少，這些國家中很少采用更嚴格的槍支法。
Australia’s gun reforms almost entirely eliminated mass shootings. Between 1980 and 1996 there were 13 incidents in which five or more victims were shot to death. There has been just one since. But until Christchurch, New Zealand had not seen any mass shootings in over 20 years, despite the many semi-automatic rifles.
澳大利亞的槍支改革幾乎完全消除了大規(guī)模槍擊事件。在1980年至1996年期間發(fā)生了13起槍擊事件，5名甚至更多受害者被槍殺。從那之后就只有一起事件。但在克賴斯特徹奇市事件之前，新西蘭盡管有許多半自動步槍，但在過去20多年里從未發(fā)生過大規(guī)模槍擊事件。
This suggests that social norms have been New Zealand’s best defence against mass shootings. But as Philip Alpers of the University of Sydney notes, the killer in Christchurch would simply not have been able to buy such deadly weapons in his home country, Australia.
這表明，社會規(guī)范一直是新西蘭對大規(guī)模槍擊事件的最佳防御。但是正如悉尼大學的菲利普·阿爾珀指出的那樣，克賴斯特徹奇市事件的兇手根本無法在他的祖國澳大利亞買到如此致命的武器。
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