Mass Killings Bring New Demands for Gun Control in America

AS IT IS 2016-06-28 Mass Killings¹ Bring New Demands for Gun Control in America

When U.S. Congressional Democrats³ demanded votes on gun control measures last week, Republican leaders turned off the cameras.

The action is strangely similar to what congressional Democrats did in 2008 to answer a Republican protest over energy legislation.

But in 2016, Democratic Party lawmakers had a new way to get their protest message out. They used cameras on mobile telephones to provide live video of their speeches on social media. That technology was not available in 2008.

So, Americans could watch as Congressman⁴ John Lewis, a leader of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, spoke⁵ about the cost of gun violence.

Focus on Orlando Shooting

Lewis said that guns kill 30,000 people across the country each year.

“We have lost too many of our children, our babies,” he said. “We have lost too many of our mothers and fathers.”

The Georgia congressman and other Democratic lawmakers took turns speaking for nearly 26 hours straight in the House of Representatives. Many held up pictures of people killed by guns.

Much of their focus was on the 49 people killed earlier this month at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. It was the largest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Since the Orlando shootings, congressional Democrats have stepped up efforts to pass gun control legislation. At the top of their list are bills to expand background checks. Supporters say such bills, when enacted⁶, would stop people with a criminal record, or who support terrorism, from buying guns.

The Democrats also want to ban the military-style weapons used in the Orlando attack and other recent mass shootings. They include the one last December in San Bernardino, California, the mass killing² at a Connecticut elementary school in 2012, and the attack at a Colorado movie theater.

Focus on Terrorism

The Republican Party holds majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Republican lawmakers generally support the position of the National Rifle Association (NRA). The NRA argues against bills that would limit what the group says is a constitutional right to own guns.

“Terrorism is the issue and defeating terrorism is our focus here in the House,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. “Let me be really clear. We are not going to take away the constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans.”

Ryan called the Democratic protest a “political ploy⁷.”

Marc Morial is president of the National Urban League. He has supported gun control laws since the 1990s, when he was mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana. He was the first mayor to take legal action against gun manufacturers for deaths and injuries on the streets of New Orleans. But the case failed.

Morial told VOA he is not surprised gun control bills continue to face strong opposition⁸. It reflects the power of the NRA, he said.

“It is also due to a strong gun culture among many Americans, who enjoy hunting and want guns for self-protection,” Morial said.

Republican Offers Compromise

Just hours after the House of Representatives protest ended Thursday, the Senate took up a gun control bill written by Maine Senator Susan Collins, a Republican, with moderate Democrats and Republicans.

By a 52-46 vote, the Senate agreed to let her bill move forward. But that was still eight votes short of what Collins needs for Senate passage.

Her bill would block gun sales to individuals on U.S. government “no fly” lists because of their suspected links to terrorists. Also stopped from buying guns would be people required to go through additional airport screening because of security concerns. Her bill would permit court hearings for those denied the chance to buy guns.

The National Rifle Association’s Chris Cox said the Collins’ bill does not do enough to protect gun rights.

“Unfortunately, Senator Collins and others are focusing their efforts on unconstitutional proposals that would not have prevented the Orlando terrorist attack,” he said.

He added that Congress should focus on fighting terrorism.

Shannon Frattaroli is a professor at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy. He said most of the 30,000 gun violence victims killed each year are not killed by terrorists, but by people they know.

Attention for Democrats Is New

Catholic University political science professor Matthew Green said all the attention paid to congressional Democrats last week was unusual.

Usually, the leaders of the majority party and the news media ignore the minority party, Green said. But he said all the attention to the Democratic protest probably will not be enough to pass a single gun control bill this year.

Words in This Story

focus – n. the subject on which people's attention is placed

background check – n. a formal look to see if someone has something in his or her past that would make them a risk

law-abiding – adj. obeying laws

ploy -- n. a clever trick or plan that is used to get someone to do something or to gain an advantage over someone

screen – v. to check people for dangerous items such as guns

1 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

2 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

3 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 enacted   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• legislation enacted by parliament 由议会通过的法律
• Outside in the little lobby another scene was begin enacted. 外面的小休息室里又是另一番景象。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

7 ploy   

n.花招，手段

参考例句：

• I think this is just a government ploy to deceive the public.我认为这只是政府欺骗公众的手段。
• Christmas should be a time of excitement and wonder,not a cynical marketing ploy.圣诞节应该是兴奋和美妙的时刻，而不该是一种肆无忌惮的营销策略。

8 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。