每天一篇经济学人 | Another mass shooting 又一起大...
The spate of gun violence shows American exceptionalism at its worst
接二连三的枪支暴力事件显示出美国最糟糕的卓异主义
Another mass shooting
又一起大规模枪击事件
Texas and the country are weeping, again. But will anyone act?
德州和整个国家都再次哭泣。但有人会采取行动吗?
Uvalde is a small town in the picturesque Texas Hill Country, west of San Antonio, which used to be best known as the “honey capital of the world”. Today it is associated with senseless slaughter. On May 24th an 18-year-old gunman, Salvador Ramos, entered Robb Elementary School and carried out the largest school shooting since Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012. At least 21 are dead, including 19 children.
尤瓦尔迪是一个小镇，位于风景如画的德州丘陵地区，圣安东尼奥以西，这里曾被誉为“世界蜂蜜之都”。今天，它与无谓的屠杀联系在一起。5月24日，18岁的枪手萨尔瓦多·拉莫斯进入罗布小学，制造了自2012年康涅狄格州纽敦桑迪胡克小学以来最大规模的校园枪击案。(这场枪击案中)至少21人死亡，其中包括19名儿童。
The gunman reportedly bought two assault rifles on his 18th birthday and is believed to have used one, and high-capacity magazines, which allowed him to fire multiple bullets quickly. In a haunting parallel with Sandy Hook, in which that gunman killed his mother before perpetrating the school attack, Mr Ramos shot his grandmother, who is in critical condition. No motive has been revealed.
据报道，枪手在他18岁生日那天买了两支突击步枪，据信他已使用了一支，以及大容量弹匣，这使他能够快速发射多发子弹。与桑迪胡克小学枪击案相似的是，拉莫斯开枪射击了他的祖母，他的祖母目前情况危急，而在桑迪胡克小学枪击案中，那个枪手是在校园袭击前杀死了自己的母亲。目前还没有透露动机。
There have been over 900 shootings on school grounds since the massacre of six- and seven-year-olds at Sandy Hook a decade ago. Whether in schools or elsewhere, mass shootings have become tragically common in America (see chart). Less than two weeks ago, another 18-year-old killed ten people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, targeting them because of their race. “We’re in this scenario where we keep watching the same movie play over and over again, and it’s a bad version of ‘Groundhog Day’,” says Joe Sakran, a surgeon and gun-control advocate.
自从十年前桑迪胡克小学六、七岁的孩子被杀以来，校园里已经发生了900多起枪击案。无论是在学校还是在其他地方，大规模的枪击事件在美国已经变得非常普遍(见图表)，这很悲惨。不到两周前，另一名18岁的年轻人因为种族原因，在纽约州布法罗的一家杂货店杀害了10人。外科医生兼枪支管制倡导者乔·萨克兰表示：“我们一直处在这样一个局面中，我们一直看着同一部电影一遍又一遍地播放，这是糟糕版的‘土拨鼠之日’。”
president Joe Biden, freshly back from Asia, gave a sombre speech, which merged the gravity of a eulogy with the outrage of a prosecution. “What struck me on that 17-hour flight was these kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world…Why are we willing to live with this carnage?” he asked. Mr Biden blamed the strength of the gun lobby, which has opposed even the most moderate of proposals, including funding federal research on gun violence and investing more in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), an under-resourced agency that is responsible for background checks and ensuring firearms dealers comply with the law. The ATF has had a permanent head only once in the past 15 years, owing to opposition by gun groups such as the National Rifle Association (NRA).
刚刚从亚洲回来的乔·拜登总统发表了一场严肃的演讲，将悼词的严肃与起诉的愤怒融合在一起。他问道，“在17个小时的飞行中，让我震惊的是，这种大规模枪击事件在世界其他地方很少发生……为什么我们愿意与这种大屠杀共存？”。拜登将其归咎于枪支游说团体的强大力量，他们甚至反对最温和的提议，包括资助针对枪支暴力的联邦研究，向美国烟酒枪炮及爆裂物管理局投入更多资金，ATF是一个资源不足的机构，负责背景调查和确保枪支经销商遵守法律。由于美国步枪协会等枪支组织的反对，在过去15年里，ATF只有一次任命了常任局长。
When it comes to guns, America is exceptional in three ways. Per head, it has the highest level of gun ownership in the world (war-torn Yemen ranks second). It has a significantly higher share of killings with guns than countries like Britain and Canada, which have stricter controls. And unlike other countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, which have experienced mass shootings but adapted their laws in the wake of tragedy, America has refused to change its gun laws.
说到枪支，美国在三个方面是不同寻常的。人均拥有枪支数量居世界首位(饱受战争蹂躏的也门排名第二)。它的枪杀比例明显高于英国和加拿大等国家，这些国家对枪支的控制更为严格。与澳大利亚和新西兰等其他国家不同，这些国家经历过大规模枪击事件，但在悲剧发生后修改了法律，而美国拒绝修改枪支法。
The lack of congressional action on gun control is its own sorry tale. After Sandy Hook, president Barack Obama gave the job of pushing through substantive gun-control legislation to his vice-president, Mr Biden. In 2013 a bill that would have introduced universal background checks on all gun sales failed in the Senate. There has been little federal action on gun control, because of Congress’s unwillingness to stare down the barrel of the nra, which remains influential in Washington despite the group’s own financial and reputational problems. In order to get things done, Mr Biden has tried to change policy by executive order, including regulating “ghost guns” that can be assembled from parts bought online and which had previously evaded regulation.
国会对枪支管制缺乏行动本身就是一个令人遗憾的故事。桑迪胡克事件发生后，奥巴马总统将推动枪支管制立法的重任交给了副总统拜登。2013年，一项对所有枪支销售实行普遍背景调查的法案未能在参议院获得通过。由于国会不愿直面NRA，联邦政府几乎没有在枪支管制方面采取行动。尽管NRA自身存在财务和声誉问题，但该组织在华盛顿仍有影响力。为了把事情做好，拜登试图通过行政命令来改变政策，包括监管“幽灵枪”，这种枪可以通过在网上购买的零部件组装而成，此前一直可以逃避监管。
More action has occurred at the state level. For example, after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, many states passed new gun-control laws, including the Republican-led Sunshine State. But there has also been a loosening of rules. Texas has embraced “permitless carry” laws, which allow people to carry guns around in public with no permit or training. In the absence of stronger federal legislation, places with stiffer restrictions see the results of their efforts diluted by anti-gun-control states. This is why there is an “iron pipeline” of guns trafficked from states in the South with fewer restrictions to those in the north-east which have stricter policies, says Mr Sakran.
更多的行动发生在“州“层面。例如，在2018年佛罗里达州帕克兰的马乔里·斯通曼·道格拉斯高中发生枪击事件后，许多州通过了新的枪支管制法律，包括共和党领导的阳光州。但也有规则放宽的州。德克萨斯州实行了“无持枪许可”法，允许人们在公共场合携带枪支，无需许可或接受培训。在缺乏更强有力的联邦立法的情况下，那些限制更严格的地方，其努力的结果被反枪支管制的州削弱了。萨克兰先生说，这就是为什么有一条“铁管道”将枪支从限制较少的南部各州贩运到政策更为严格的东北部各州。
Although the shooting in Uvalde breaks hearts, will it change minds? As politicians prevaricate, more guns circulate. During 2020 and 2021, an estimated 43m guns were sold in America. Universal background checks would be the most meaningful reform—though an elusive one in a divided Congress. Some Democrats want to lengthen the waiting period for gun purchases. Currently the fbi has three days to conduct a background check for a gun sold by a federally licensed gun dealer, and if it does not object in that quick window, the buyer receives his firearm. This happened with the assailant in a grim shooting in Charleston in 2015.
尽管尤瓦尔迪的枪击事件伤透了人心，但它会改变人们的想法吗？随着政客们的推诿，更多的枪支开始流通。在2020年至2021年期间，美国大约售出了4300万支枪支。普遍的背景调查将是最有意义的改革，尽管这在分裂的国会中难以实现。一些民主党人希望延长购买枪支的等待期。目前，联邦调查局有三天的时间对持有联邦执照的枪支经销商销售的枪支进行背景调查，如果在这段快速窗口期时间内其没有提出反对意见，买家就会收到枪支。这导致2015年在查尔斯顿发生了一起可怕的枪击事件。
The most likely change out of Washington could come soon from the Supreme Court, which is going to rule on a case regarding the constitutionality of New York’s restrictions on people’s ability to carry guns in public. Many expect the court to rule against New York, making it easier for individuals to carry firearms and potentially leading to more states’ gun restrictions being struck down.
华盛顿以外最有可能发生的变化可能很快来自最高法院，最高法院将就纽约州限制人们在公共场合携带枪支的合宪一案做出裁决。许多人预计法院会做出不利于纽约州的裁决，使个人携带枪支变得更容易，并可能导致更多州废除枪支限制。
Messing with TexasIn Texas, voters will soon be able to indicate whether they are content to tolerate the status quo. In the wake of two mass shootings in 2019, Greg Abbott, Texas’s governor, promised to look into solutions for avoiding future attacks but failed to act, instead signing permitless-carry into law. Beto O’Rourke, a Democrat who is running for governor, has made gun-control central to his political career (he confronted Mr Abbott at a news conference in Uvalde on May 25th). But his chances of victory against Mr Abbott are low, and there is little he could do to regulate guns in a Republican-controlled state legislature anyway.
在德克萨斯州，选民们很快就能表明他们是否满足于容忍现状。在2019年发生两起大规模枪击事件后，德克萨斯州州长格雷格·阿博特承诺寻找避免未来袭击的解决方案，但他没有采取行动，而是签署了“无许可携带”法案。正在竞选州长的民主党人贝托•奥罗克已将枪支管制作为其政治生涯的核心(5月25日他在尤瓦尔迪的新闻发布会上与阿博特对峙)。但他战胜阿博特的机会很低，而且无论如何，在共和党控制的州立法机构中，他对管制枪支几乎无能为力。
On May 27th the nra is kicking off its annual conference, with speakers including Mr Abbott, Ted Cruz, a Republican senator from Texas, and former president Donald Trump. That the Uvalde atrocity and the nra’s gathering will occur in the same state, in the same week, is a symbol of America’s divisions and dysfunction.
5月27日，全国步枪协会将开始其年度会议，演讲者包括阿博特先生、德克萨斯州共和党参议员泰德•克鲁兹和前总统唐纳德•特朗普。尤瓦尔迪的暴行和全国步枪协会的会议将在同一个州，在同一个星期发生，这是美国分裂和失衡的象征。
