美国国家公共电台 NPR--Why Colorado's Red Flag Law didn't stop the Colorado Springs shooting

Why Colorado's Red Flag Law didn't stop the Colorado Springs shooting

Transcript¹

An update on Red Flag Laws and their impact in light of the mass shooting in Colorado Springs.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

It's been another terrible week in America for mass shootings, with six killed at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Va., Tuesday night and then five killed on Saturday in a nightclub in Colorado Springs. In Colorado, some are asking why police hadn't used the state's red flag law to disarm² the suspect, Anderson Lee Aldrich, who reportedly had an encounter with police over an alleged³ bomb threat last year. Here to talk about the record of red flag laws, we're joined by NPR's law enforcement correspondent Martin Kaste.

Martin, first off, a quick reminder⁴ - red flag laws - what are they?

MARTIN KASTE, BYLINE⁵: Well, the official name in a lot of states is extreme risk protection order, or ERPO. The idea there is if a family member or a police officer is worried about someone's state of mind and they see an extreme risk of some violence, they can ask a judge to temporarily take that person's guns away. And this idea has caught on in some places. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia now have versions of the law.

MART?NEZ: Including Colorado, which passed its a red flag law in 2019 - so do we know why it was not used to disarm Anderson Lee Aldrich?

KASTE: We don't because we don't know important details about that incident last year. The court records are sealed. Colorado generally uses red flag laws less often than other states, possibly because of politics there and the fact that some county-level elected officials in Colorado have opposed the law. They see it as a violation⁶ of the Second Amendment⁷. But on Monday, the Colorado Springs police chief, Adrian Vasquez, said he did believe in using the law.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ADRIAN VASQUEZ: We have to have a credible⁸ information to be able to do that. So if we do, then, of course we should act on it.

MART?NEZ: So does it just pretty much come down to gun rights politics in the place you happen to live?

KASTE: Not necessarily. I was talking to Veronica Pear about this. She's a social epidemiologist with UC Davis. She researches police attitudes toward red flag laws. And she says, in a survey they did, some of the officers did just say, we don't like the laws because of gun rights. But she says there was a far more important factor at work.

VERONICA PEAR: What we found was that law enforcement officers who had some sort of either personal experience with ERPOs, like serving them, or had some training - those law enforcement officers were much more likely to say that they would use an ERPO in a range of different case scenarios⁹ that we presented to them.

MART?NEZ: So it sounds like being familiar with red flag laws maybe makes police more willing to use them?

KASTE: Well, that's what her research is showing. And this may explain why, for example, Florida uses red flag laws the most. Their law was passed in response to the Parkland school massacre¹⁰. And it got a lot of publicity¹¹ because of that, so a lot of people are aware of it. But there's also the practical matter that cops are more likely to use a law when they know how it works. Take a listen here to Kim Wyatt. She's with the prosecutor's office in Seattle.

KIM WYATT: Laws do not implement¹² themselves, so we really need education around, how do you file these? What court do you go to? What is that process? How long is that order in place for? And what does that order apply to?

KASTE: Wyatt is part of a group that I've been following for a couple of years. They're a staff of full-time¹³ red flag order specialists. They help the police departments in the region file the paperwork and see the judges. She figures that they consult on at least one case a day now in her region, and the numbers go up during the holidays or after a high-profile act of violence. Just last week, she helped get emergency temporary orders, removing guns in cases involving threats to schools. And she says she - they could act that fast because they know the routine. And this model of a specialized¹⁴ staff is now being tried in some other places around the country.

MART?NEZ: All right. That's NPR's law enforcement correspondent Martin Kaste.

Thanks a lot, Martin.

KASTE: You're welcome.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 disarm   

v.解除武装，回复平常的编制，缓和

参考例句：

• The world has waited 12 years for Iraq to disarm. 全世界等待伊拉克解除武装已有12年之久。
• He has rejected every peaceful opportunity offered to him to disarm.他已经拒绝了所有能和平缴械的机会。

3 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

4 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

5 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。

6 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

7 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。

8 credible   

adj.可信任的，可靠的

参考例句：

• The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
• Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法？

9 scenarios   

n.[意]情节；剧本；事态；脚本

参考例句：

• Further, graphite cores may be safer than non-graphite cores under some accident scenarios. 再者，根据一些事故解说，石墨堆芯可比非石墨堆芯更安全一些。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Again, scenarios should make it clear which modes are acceptable to users in various contexts. 同样，我们可以运用场景剧本来搞清楚在不同情境下哪些模式可被用户接受。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

10 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

11 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

12 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

13 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

14 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。