槍支管制
Bullets to the head
射向腦袋的子彈
Why James Brady's shooting led to gun control, but Gabby Giffords's did not
為什么James Brady的矛頭直指槍支管制而Gabby Gifford的卻沒有
WHEN James Brady, who at the time was Ronald Reagan's press secretary, was shot in the head during a failed assassination attempt on the president in 1981, newscasts reported that he was dead. This proved premature: Mr Brady died on August 4th. After the shooting, he went on to become the country's most successful advocate for gun control. Under a law that bears his name, over 2m applications for firearm purchases have been turned down after background checks revealed that their owners were not the sorts of people to be trusted with a Glock. Since Gabby Giffords, a congresswoman fromArizona, was shot in the head in 2011, no federal gun-control laws have passed. The different responses reveal much about what has changed in the triangular relationship between Americans, guns and politicians between the two shootings.
時任里根總統新聞秘書的James Brady在1981年一次針對總統的失敗刺殺中頭部中彈，新聞報道說他死了。這份報道后被證實有點早“Brady8月4日才死亡。在槍擊事件后，他接著成為了全國最成功的槍支管制擁護者。在一份以他的姓名起草的法令下，超過兩百萬申請軍火購買許可證的申請被拒絕，原因是他們的背景審查揭露他們這些買家不是那些值得信賴的槍支持有者。自從2011年亞利桑那州的國會女議員Gabby Giffords被槍擊頭部后，再也沒有通過的聯邦槍支管制法案。不同的回應聲反映出了美國國民，槍支制造商以及政客們針對兩起槍擊事件的三角關系變化。
Congress has passed laws that make it impossible to know for sure how many Americans own guns, but polling data suggest that the number who do has decreased since Mr Brady was shot. Rather than make it easier to pass laws, this has made it harder: small, energetic groups have more sway over Congress than ones that are larger and more diffuse. It took 12 years from the shooting of Mr Brady to the passing of background checks, so it is too early to conclude that Mrs Giffords's wounds will not eventually result in something similar, such as a ban on the kind of oversized magazines that her shooter used. But the chances of that look remote.
國會已通過法令，這也就不可能確切查明有多少美國人持槍，但是民意調查顯示自從Brady被槍擊后持槍人數已經下滑。與更簡單的通過法案相比，這種做法更難：小型的，有能力的各個社團對國會的影響蓋過那些更大型，更廣泛的社團。通過背景審查法案從Brady槍擊事件后算起花了12年時間，因此得出Glifford的槍傷不會最終開出類似果實的結論還為時過早，比如禁止射擊她的兇手所使用的那種大口徑子彈。但是可能性看起來很低。
One reason is the pattern that follows high-profile shootings. After the murder of 20 children and six adults at a school inNewtown,Connecticutin 2012, the National Rifle Association (NRA), the biggest group representing gun owners, claims that its membership increased. This is not as strange as it seems. Shootings that make headlines lead to calls for gun control. Though these mostly fail, they provoke a pushback from pro-gun groups, which warn their members of federal plots to take their guns away. Though some states passed gun-control measures in the year after theNewtownmassacre, many others ended up with more permissive laws than before. Gun enthusiasts have had particular success with laws that allow people to carry concealed weapons, leading to a boom in sales of specially-made shirts that allow their wearers to draw quickly.
一方面原因是緊跟這種模式的是高知名度的槍擊事件。位于紐鎮一所學校的20名孩子與6名成年人被謀殺后，2012年康乃狄克州的國家步槍協會作為代表槍支持有者的最大社團，宣稱它的會員數量上漲。這并不像它看起來那樣奇怪。槍擊事件使得頭條新聞趨向于呼吁槍支管制。盡管這些很有可能無效，他們還是使得支持槍械的社團退讓，警告聯邦其他州，正計劃取消他們的槍械持有權。盡管一些州在紐鎮屠殺案那年通過了一些槍支管制措施，很多州相對于以前停用了更多的槍支許可法。槍支信徒們則對法律許可人們攜帶隱藏武器有著特殊的成就，這也導致能快速拔出武器的特制上衣銷量大增。
Polling by Pew suggests that three-quarters of NRA members support the expansion of background checks to cover purchases made at gun shows or online, a loophole in the Brady law. The organisation's bosses, however, take any measure that restricts access to guns to be a small step towards a final destination of anAmericadisarmed. Its scorecards are the most popular way for voters to assess a candidate's soundness on guns, so congressmen often vote with them in mind, even if that means voting against laws that most NRA members support. Such was the case with a modest bipartisan attempt at federal gun control in the wake ofNewtown. Like so many before, it failed.
根據皮尤民調顯示四分之三的步槍協會會員支持擴大背景調查以涵蓋槍支展覽或是網上購槍，這也是Brady法案的漏洞。然而，協會的老大們采取了一切手段去限制那些縮小槍支許可范圍的舉措，以防他們最終導致美國無槍化。選民評價候選人對于槍械公正性最流行的方法就是看計分板，因此國會議員們經常時刻記住給他們投票，甚至即使這意味著投票反對大部分步槍協會會員們支持的法律。緊隨紐鎮案，這種兩黨間的對于聯邦槍械管制溫和舉動就是這樣的例子。如同之前諸多案例一樣，它失敗了。
評論
打印
