美国国家公共电台 NPR 拜登宣布多项控枪措施 称枪支暴力是"流行病"

It was just two weeks ago that President Biden made it seem pretty clear he was not eager to move the intractable gun debate to the top of his agenda, even in the wake of two mass shootings. But today, the president did just that by announcing a number of actions to curb¹ a serious rise in gun violence in the U.S. over the past year. NPR political reporter Juana Summers has been following the story and joins us now. Hey, Juana.

JUANA SUMMERS, BYLINE²: Hello.

CHANG: So tell us what the president plans to do here.

SUMMERS: Yeah, so the president announced a number of initiatives, including efforts to restrict ghost guns. Those are firearms without serial³ numbers that are sold in kits⁴ and assembled at home. Another proposed Justice Department rule would seek to regulate devices that can be placed on pistols to effectively turn them into short-barrelled rifles. He announced new investments to community violence intervention⁵ programs, which is something that a number of advocates had been pushing the administration on. And the president also announced his intent to nominate David Chipman to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which has not had a permanent director since 2015.

CHANG: Right. OK. So what is the argument that the administration seems to be making today to justify⁶ all of these actions?

SUMMERS: Well, Ailsa, it's an argument about urgency. We heard President Biden talk about the two high-profile mass shootings that happened in the span of less than a week in the Atlanta area and later in Boulder⁷, Colo. And then he talked about everything that happened in the days in between.

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PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: You probably didn't hear, but between those two incidents less than one week apart, there were more than 850 additional shootings — 850 that took the lives of more than 250 people and left 500 — 500 — injured. This is an epidemic⁸, for God's sake, and it has to stop.

SUMMERS: What really struck me in listening to the president talk about this is that the argument he's making is so multifaceted. He talked about the economic impacts of gun violence. He also made very clear that beyond these mass shootings, the epidemic of everyday gun violence is quite deadly, and it disproportionately impacts Black people and Latinos.

CHANG: I mean, the president has also been calling on Congress to act, right? But there's been this stalemate on this particular issue for so long, and with such a closely divided Senate, is the White House really making a serious push for legislation at this moment?

SUMMERS: Both the president and senior administration officials are talking about the politics of this quite directly. We heard the president say repeatedly even that these actions do not infringe⁹ on the Second Amendment¹⁰, which is the argument that Republicans in the National Rifle Association have been making. And he also seemed to acknowledge the years-long struggle to get Congress to do anything to change the nation's gun laws. Earlier today, I talked with Susan Rice, who's the head of the president's Domestic Policy Council.

SUSAN RICE: I believe and I think President Biden believes that because the American people are fed up with daily violence in our schools and our communities and on our streets, fed up with the fact that over a hundred Americans are dying every day, 300 are being shot every day, that there is a real opportunity for rational policy and rational law to be passed on a bipartisan basis. And the president is committed to working to try to make that happen.

SUMMERS: Biden and Rice both emphasized today that more needs to be done.

CHANG: While leading up to today, gun control groups have criticized President Biden for not making gun legislation a top priority, as he promised he would on the campaign trail. So what are those groups saying now with these executive actions?

SUMMERS: They're glad that Biden is making good on that promise, but there is also a sense for many that this is a first step. Fatimah Loren Dreier of the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention was at the White House today.

FATIMAH LOREN DREIER: I know that there are incredible advocates who will continue to fight — and they should. And we should celebrate this day. And we should continue fighting. There is always work to do. As long as gun violence rages in our cities, there'll be work to do.

SUMMERS: Others say Biden could do more on his own in the absence of congressional action.

CHANG: That is NPR's Juana Summers. Thank you, Juana.

SUMMERS: You're welcome.

就在两周前，拜登总统还明确表示，他并不急于将棘手的枪支辩论提到议事日程的首位，即使此前发生了两起大规模枪击事件。但今天，总统宣布了一系列行动，目标是遏制过去一年美国枪支暴力的严重上升。NPR新闻政治记者乔安娜·萨默斯一直在关注这件事，现在她将和我们连线。你好，乔安娜。

乔安娜·萨默斯连线：你好。

张：请介绍一下总统的计划。

萨默斯：好，总统宣布了一系列举措，包括限制“幽灵枪”。这些枪支没有序列号，通常成套出售，由持有者在家自行组装。另一项司法部拟议法规将试图规范可放置在手枪上的装置，以将装有这类装置的手枪归入短管步枪范畴。总统宣布增加社区暴力干预项目的投资，这是倡导者一直在推动政府实施的举措。总统还宣布，他计划提名大卫·奇普曼担任美国酒精、烟草、枪支和爆炸物管理局局长，该部门的常任局长职务自2015年起就一直处于空缺状态。

张：好。美国政府今天提出了哪些论点来证明这些行动的合理性？

萨默斯：艾尔莎，这是有关紧迫性的争论。我们听到拜登总统谈及，在不到一周的时间里，亚特兰大地区和科罗拉多州博尔德相继发生两起引人注目的大规模枪击事件。之后他谈到了这两起事件之间发生的事情。

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乔·拜登总统：大家可能没有听说，但在这两起相隔不到一周的事件之间，又发生了850多起枪击事件，这850多起枪击案夺走了250多人的生命，还有500人受伤。枪击案是一种流行病，看在上帝的份上，这必须停止。

萨默斯：听总统谈论这件事时，令我印象深刻的是，他所提出的论点涉及如此多的方面。他谈到了枪支暴力对经济的影响。同时，他明确表示，除了这些大规模枪击事件之外，日常枪支暴力的流行相当致命，而且不成比例地影响黑人和拉美裔。

张：总统也一直在呼吁国会采取行动，对吧？但这个问题僵持了很长时间，而且目前两党在参议院势均力敌，那白宫现在会大力推动立法吗？

萨默斯：总统和政府高级官员提及这种政治形势时都相当直接。我们甚至听到总统一再表示，这些行动没有违反宪法第二修正案，而这是全美步枪协会中的共和党人一直在提的论点。总统似乎也承认，多年来他们一直在努力让国会采取任何措施来改变美国的枪支法。今天早些时候，我采访了白宫国内政策委员会主席苏珊·赖斯。

苏珊·赖斯：我的看法是，我认为这也是拜登总统的想法，因为美国人民厌倦了我们学校、社区和街道上每天发生的暴力事件，厌倦了每天有100多名美国人死亡，每天有300人被枪杀的事实，因此这是让合理政策和法律获得两党通过的真正机会。总统致力于努力实现这一目标。

萨默斯：拜登和赖斯今天都强调，还有更多工作要做。

张：在今天之前，枪支管制组织批评拜登总统没有像竞选时承诺的那样将枪支立法作为首要任务。这些组织现在对这些行政行动作何表态？

萨默斯：他们很高兴拜登兑现了这个竞选承诺，但对许多人来说，这只是迈出了第一步。暴力干预健康联盟的法蒂玛·洛伦·德雷尔今天出席了白宫的活动。

法蒂玛·洛伦·德雷尔：我知道有一些令人难以置信的拥护者会继续战斗——他们应该这样做。而我们应该庆祝这一天。我们也应该继续战斗。总有工作要做。只要枪支暴力还在我们的城市肆虐，我们就有工作要做。

萨默斯：其他人认为，在国会不采取行动的情况下，拜登可以自行采取更多措施。

张：以上是NPR新闻的乔安娜·萨默斯带来的报道。谢谢你，乔安娜。

萨默斯：不客气。

1 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 serial   

n.连本影片，连本电视节目；adj.连续的

参考例句：

• A new serial is starting on television tonight.今晚电视开播一部新的电视连续剧。
• Can you account for the serial failures in our experiment?你能解释我们实验屡屡失败的原因吗？

4 kits   

衣物和装备( kit的名词复数 )； 成套用品； 配套元件

参考例句：

• Keep your kits closed and locked when not in use. 不用的话把你的装备都锁好放好。
• Gifts Articles, Toy and Games, Wooden Toys, Puzzles, Craft Kits. 采购产品礼品，玩具和游戏，木制的玩具，智力玩具，手艺装备。

5 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

6 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？

7 boulder   

n.巨砾；卵石，圆石

参考例句：

• We all heaved together and removed the boulder.大家一齐用劲，把大石头搬开了。
• He stepped clear of the boulder.他从大石头后面走了出来。

8 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

9 infringe   

v.违反，触犯，侵害

参考例句：

• The jury ruled that he had infringed no rules.陪审团裁决他没有违反任何规定。
• He occasionally infringe the law by parking near a junction.他因偶尔将车停放在交叉口附近而违反规定。

10 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。