时代周刊 帕克兰枪击案后共和党为何开始兜售枪支管控政策(2)（在线收听）

It may seem a paradox that gun manufacturers have suffered during the Trump era.

特朗普执政期间，枪支制造商的日子并不好过，这听起来似乎有点儿矛盾。

Firearms sales are down across the industry:

整个行业的枪支销量都在下降：

the combined revenues of Sturm, Ruger & Co.; Vista Outdoor; Winchester; Remington and American Outdoor Brands (formerly known as Smith & Wesson) fell 13% in fiscal 2017.

2017财年，斯特姆-鲁格，户外、温彻斯特、雷明顿和美国户外品牌（前身为史密斯＆维森）的总收益跌了13％。

FBI background checks, the metric used as a proxy to track sales, fell 8.4% last year from a record-breaking 2016.

FBI背景审查，跟踪销售记录的代理所用的指标，从2016年破纪录的水平下跌了8.4％。

It was the largest year-over-year drop this century,

这是本世纪以来同比下降幅度最大的一次，

and some of the world's largest gunmakers have cut back on production and slashed payrolls as a result.

为此，世界上最大的几家枪支制造商已经削减产量，缩减工资。

The slide has shown no sign of stopping:

然而，这一倾斜并没有带来好转的迹象：

two days before the Parkland shooting, Remington declared it would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after its 2017 sales took a 30% nosedive.

帕克兰枪击案发生前两天，雷明顿还宣布它将在2017年销售额下跌30％之后申请破产保护。

The explanation is simple.

原因很简单。

In the gun industry, fear is good for the bottom line.

在枪支行业，恐惧对他们的商业底线来说是件好事。

Under Barack Obama, gun owners rushed to buy firepower they feared was going to be outlawed.

奥巴马执政期间，枪支所有者们就因为担心武器被取缔而大力抢购。

As Trump took office, the U.S. gun market was approaching saturation.

特朗普上台时，美国枪支市场已经趋于饱和。

Gun owners have what they need, says Robert Evans of Pennington Capital, a Minneapolis investment firm.

明尼阿波利斯投资公司“彭宁顿资本”的罗伯特·埃文斯说：“枪主们已经有他们需要的东西了。”

"The stockpiling mentality is over and likely won't change unless you see a new administration or a change in the makeup of Congress."

“如今大家已经没有囤货的想法了，这一想法未来可能也不会改变，除非新的政府上台，或者国会成员重新洗牌。”

It's therefore not a little ironic that the NRA spent $54 million helping to elect Trump and other gunfriendly Republicans.

所以，全国步枪协会耗资5400万美元来帮特朗普等对枪支态度更为友好的共和党人赢得选举一事就显得十分讽刺。

Had Hillary Clinton won the White House, gun sales would be soaring to new heights, industry analysts say;

行业分析师谈到，如果希拉里·克林顿赢得了总统选举，枪支的销量将会飙升到新高；

after all, in 1994, President Bill Clinton oversaw the nation's only ban on assault weapons, which expired in 2004.

毕竟，1994年，比尔·克林顿总统监督了该国唯一一次禁止攻击性武器的禁令，该禁令于2004年到期。

Polls predicting a second President Clinton drove gun futures into a tizzy.

预测又一个克林顿会当选总统的民调让枪支行业的未来陷入了恐慌。

Manufacturers cranked out more firearms than ever in 2016—over 11 million, according to data released by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

美国烟酒枪炮及爆裂物管理局公布的数据显示，枪支制造商们2016年制造的枪支数量比以往任何时候都多 - 超过了1100万支。

The year 2016 was a record year by far, says Lawrence Keane of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms industry trade association.

枪械行业贸易协会——全国射击运动基金会的劳伦斯·基恩说，到目前为止，2016年可以说是创纪录的一年。

Everybody understood that that level of sales wasn't sustainable.

“大家都知道，那种销量不是每年都有的。”

Indeed, the more than 25 million background checks last year was still more than double the total in the years before Obama ran.

事实上，去年2500多万次的背景调查次数仍然是奥巴马竞选前几年调查次数综合的两倍多。

Much of that inventory backlog is now being sold off at rebate.

当时的大部分库存积压现在都在打折出售。