美国国家公共电台 NPR Lawmakers Say The ATF Should Regulate Bump Stocks. It's Not That Simple

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

House Speaker Paul Ryan says he favors regulations against bump stocks - you know, those attachments² to semiautomatic rifles that makes them fire at the rate of a machine gun. Speaker Ryan says he favors restrictions³ after bump stocks were apparently⁴ used in the Las Vegas shooting. But he would rather the House not vote on them.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PAUL RYAN: We think the regulatory fix is the smartest, quickest fix. And I'd frankly⁵ like to know how it happened in the first place.

INSKEEP: A regulatory fix, meaning he hopes authorities reinterpret existing law taking this out of Congress hands. NPR's Ryan Lucas is in the studio with us to talk through the law. Good morning.

RYAN LUCAS, BYLINE⁶: Good morning.

INSKEEP: So Ryan asks the question, how are these things legal when machine guns are supposed to be tightly restricted? How are they legal?

LUCAS: Well, first let's step back and talk about what bump stocks are. So they are an attachment¹ to a weapon that allows a semiautomatic to shoot at a faster rate - so something that would approach the rate of an automatic weapon or machine gun.

INSKEEP: This is what people heard on the video of the Las Vegas shooting, those bursts of fire.

LUCAS: Exactly. Exactly. And so the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which is commonly referred to as the ATF...

INSKEEP: Yeah.

LUCAS: ...Is responsible for doing classification reviews, deciding how a weapon fits or an attachment fits into the spectrum⁷ of firearms. Now, we know that ATF did what's called a classification review about eight years ago on bump stocks. And I spoke⁸ with a number of former ATF officials who worked on this. And in trying to determine whether a firearm or a device is legal, the key question is how many bullets it shoots with one pull of the trigger. So if you pull the trigger once and you get one bullet, it's legal. It's a semiautomatic.

INSKEEP: Right.

INSKEEP: If you pull the trigger once and get a continuous stream of bullets until you let go of the trigger, it's a machine gun. And that is tightly regulated.

INSKEEP: OK. So they decided⁹ that the bump stock did not make something a machine gun effectively?

LUCAS: Basically, what happens is when you pull - each pull of the trigger with a bump stock...

INSKEEP: Oh...

LUCAS: ...Let's one bullet.

INSKEEP: ...It's a vibration¹⁰ that's making the trigger just be pulled many times very quickly...

LUCAS: Exactly.

INSKEEP: ...And so technically¹¹, it was OK. So they said it's legal. Can they actually revisit it and decide it's illegal after all?

LUCAS: They can. Now, ATF won't comment on whether they're doing that. They say it's internal deliberations, not something we talk about. But again, the former ATF officials that I've spoken with said that there's no reason that the bureau can't take another look at them. But remember, they've looked at the law before. They've looked to bump stocks before, and they said that they're good to go. So I spoke with a former official by the name of Rick Vasquez. He's a firearms consultant¹² now, but he used to work as an ATF expert in the branch that reviews guns and gun accessories. And here's what he told me.

RICK VASQUEZ: If I looked at it again and looked at the same documents that we had at that time, then my opinion wouldn't change.

INSKEEP: Well, this raises a question. We found this out on issue after issue. There are many things President Trump¹³ would like to change about environmental law or about Obamacare. And it turns out that when there's a record of bureaucrats¹⁴ deciding that the law means one thing, it's very hard. It's a very long process to change it to mean something else. Is it really practical to just change the regulation?

LUCAS: Well, there's a question of whether it's practical, then there's a question of whether it's possible. So if ATF has done this before and said, well, it's legal - for it to reverse itself, to reverse the classification of bump stocks and say that they're now illegal under current law - that would likely face, you know, challenges in court.

INSKEEP: Does that mean that it would be better if Congress did try to change the law?

LUCAS: Well, there are efforts to do that. Senator Feinstein from California is pushing a bill that would ban anything like a bump stock, anything that would essentially¹⁵ accelerate the rate of fire a weapon. On the House side, Republican Carlos Curbelo has proposed a similar bill. And the experts that I've spoken to have certainly said that changing the law would be the most effective way of getting this off the street.

INSKEEP: Well, we'll see what happens. NPR's Ryan Lucas covers the Justice Department. Thanks very much.

LUCAS: Thank you.

1 attachment   

n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附

参考例句：

• She has a great attachment to her sister.她十分依恋她的姐姐。
• She's on attachment to the Ministry of Defense.她现在隶属于国防部。

2 attachments   

n.（用电子邮件发送的）附件( attachment的名词复数 )；附着；连接；附属物

参考例句：

• The vacuum cleaner has four different attachments. 吸尘器有四个不同的附件。
• It's an electric drill with a range of different attachments. 这是一个带有各种配件的电钻。

3 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

4 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

5 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

6 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。

7 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

8 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。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 vibration   

n.颤动，振动；摆动

参考例句：

• There is so much vibration on a ship that one cannot write.船上的震动大得使人无法书写。
• The vibration of the window woke me up.窗子的震动把我惊醒了。

11 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

12 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

13 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

14 bureaucrats   

n.官僚( bureaucrat的名词复数 )；官僚主义；官僚主义者；官僚语言

参考例句：

• That is the fate of the bureaucrats, not the inspiration of statesmen. 那是官僚主义者的命运，而不是政治家的灵感。 来自辞典例句
• Big business and dozens of anonymous bureaucrats have as much power as Japan's top elected leaders. 大企业和许多不知名的官僚同日本选举出来的最高层领导者们的权力一样大。 来自辞典例句

15 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。