美国国家公共电台 NPR The Gun Industry Pushes Back On Call To Ban Suppressors In Virginia

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The shooter who attacked a municipal building in Virginia Beach used a gun accessory called a suppressor. They're made to muffle¹ the sound of gunfire. Suppressors have become a focal point of the gun debate in Virginia. The Democratic governor wants them banned. Republicans and the National Rifle Association are pushing back. A warning to listeners now - you will hear the sound of gunshots in this story. NPR's Brakkton Booker reports.

BRAKKTON BOOKER, BYLINE²: Christi Dewar is a longtime Virginia Beach Public Works employee. She's also a survivor³. Here she is just days after the shooting, describing to NPR her first thoughts as the attack unfolded.

CHRISTI DEWAR: We were sitting at our desk, and there's construction or remodeling going on. And when we heard the first shots, it sounded like a nail gun going off.

BOOKER: That might be because the suppressor the gunman was using distorted the sound of the gun.

(SOUNDBITE OF GUNFIRE)

BOOKER: But as gun experts at the NRA in Northern Virginia pointed⁴ out yesterday, silencers don't actually silence a gun when it's discharged. Knox Williams is the president of the American Suppressor Association.

KNOX WILLIAMS: Suppressors are essentially⁵ mufflers for a gun.

BOOKER: The NRA invited members of the media to their gun range to show us how suppressors work. A mix of handguns and long rifles were fired with and without a suppressor. For our purposes, we'll just focus on the 45 caliber⁶ handgun, like the one used in the Virginia Beach shooting. First, the gun without the suppressor.

(SOUNDBITE OF GUNFIRE)

BOOKER: Now here's the 45 with the suppressor on it.

(SOUNDBITE OF SUPPRESSED GUNFIRE)

WILLIAMS: Did anyone not hear that suppressed gunshot?

BOOKER: No hands from the media go up. And then they brought in a nail gun for comparison.

(SOUNDBITE OF NAIL GUN FIRING)

BOOKER: My takeaway - guns are loud, and a suppressor only changes that to a certain extent. What does matter - your proximity⁷ to the gun and if you're expected to hear gunshots in the first place. Chances are sitting at your desk is not one of those times. That's when gunfire could sound like a nail gun. Williams says what the suppressor can do for the user is help protect hearing.

WILLIAMS: We don't think that people who want to exercise their Second Amendment⁸ right to shoot and hunt, defend themselves should have to sacrifice their hearing in the process.

BOOKER: David Chipman vehemently⁹ disagrees with that as the primary purpose for suppressors. He served 25 years as a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and now is a senior policy adviser¹⁰ at the anti-gun violence organization Giffords Law Center.

DAVID CHIPMAN: The primary purpose is for someone who is on the offensive to maintain the element of surprise longer. And if that's the intention of an attacker at a workplace, it's really a recipe for disaster.

BOOKER: Just days after the Virginia Beach shooting, Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam called for lawmakers to change the state's gun laws. Northam called for a ban on military-style weapons, including bump stocks and suppressors. He wants to reinstate Virginia's one gun purchase a month policy and universal background checks, among other things. Catherine Mortensen is a spokesperson for the NRA's lobbying branch. She says the governor is exploiting a tragedy.

CATHERINE MORTENSEN: I think that not a single one of Governor Northam's gun control proposals would have prevented what happened at Virginia Beach. That's the bottom line. This is a gun grab by the governor.

BOOKER: Virginia Democrats¹¹ have been holding forums¹² around the state to drum up support for Northam's new push to change gun laws. If they succeed and the suppressor ban is approved, Virginia will join eight other states that already have similar laws on the books.

Brakkton Booker, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF ROCKET MINER'S "MY FRIEND COMA")

1 muffle   

v.围裹；抑制；发低沉的声音

参考例句：

• Mother made an effort to muffle her emotions.母亲努力控制自己的感情。
• I put my hand over my mouth to muffle my words,so only my friend could hear. 我把手挡在嘴上，遮住声音，仅让我的朋友听到。

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 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

4 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

5 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。

6 caliber   

n.能力；水准

参考例句：

• They ought to win with players of such high caliber.他们选手的能力这样高,应该获胜。
• We are always trying to improve the caliber of our schools.我们一直在想方设法提高我们学校的水平。

7 proximity   

n.接近，邻近

参考例句：

• Marriages in proximity of blood are forbidden by the law.法律规定禁止近亲结婚。
• Their house is in close proximity to ours.他们的房子很接近我们的。

8 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。

9 vehemently   

adv. 热烈地

参考例句：

• He argued with his wife so vehemently that he talked himself hoarse. 他和妻子争论得很激烈，以致讲话的声音都嘶哑了。
• Both women vehemently deny the charges against them. 两名妇女都激烈地否认了对她们的指控。

10 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

11 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》

12 forums   

讨论会； 座谈会； 广播专题讲话节目； 集会的公共场所( forum的名词复数 )； 论坛，讨论会，专题讨论节目； 法庭

参考例句：

• A few of the forums were being closely monitored by the administrators. 有些论坛被管理员严密监控。
• It can cast a dark cloud over these forums. 它将是的论坛上空布满乌云。