美国国家公共电台 NPR--In an address to the nation, Biden renews his calls for gun control

In an address to the nation, Biden renews his calls for gun control

Transcript¹

President Biden called on Congress to ban assault weapons or to raise the age to be able to buy one from 18 to 21 and other measures to curb² gun violence. What's the reaction from Uvalde, Texas?

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

President Biden wants Congress to do something about guns. He made his appeal during a special address to the nation last night.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: It's time to act for the children we've lost, the children we can save, for the nation we love. Let's hear the call and the cry. Let's meet the moment. Let us finally do something.

MARTIN: The president's speech came less than three weeks after a shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo³, N.Y., that took the lives of 10 people and nearly 10 days after the killings⁴ of 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. NPR White House correspondent Scott Detrow was in the East Room last night with Biden for that address. He joins us now. Good morning, Scott.

SCOTT DETROW, BYLINE⁵: Hey. Good morning.

MARTIN: We are also joined by reporter Laura Benshoff, who is in Uvalde. Good morning, Laura.

LAURA BENSHOFF, BYLINE: Good morning.

MARTIN: Let's start with you, Scott. What exactly is the president asking Congress to do?

DETROW: Well, he listed a lot of things that he wants to see. He urged Congress, for example, to pass a new assault weapons ban, like the one he was a key part of passing in the 1990s. Then he said, if that's not possible, then raise the legal age limit to 21 for buying assault weapons. He also called for national red flag laws, broader background checks, among other ideas. But Biden, at the end of the speech, acknowledged this current political reality and conceded a lot of these items are just non-starters in the evenly divided Senate. And that's despite the fact that so many of these proposals are broadly popular with voters across party lines.

MARTIN: How does what the president is asking for compare what is actually being negotiated in Congress?

DETROW: So the talks happening right now in the Senate are much more narrow with, really, a goal of just passing something. They're focused on things like safe storage of firearms, addressing mental health and school safety. Red flag laws are part of those talks right now. But it's more about incentivizing state-level laws than passing a national law. And it's important to remember these talks are all still pretty early. They're broad. And they're tentative right now.

MARTIN: So if that's the reality on Capitol Hill and the talks are this fragile, why come out and press for so much more if you're President Biden?

DETROW: Yeah. A White House official said this was about Biden being in the conversation, as they put it, and trying to sway the public. There was that common theme we heard at the top of, enough. But Biden also kept returning to the message he heard this weekend when he was in Uvalde, those chants and cries of, do something. But again, there's that ever-present political reality that there's not enough Republican support to do something on a lot of these areas. But Biden said he hopes voters make this a priority if it can't get done in Congress right now. But, you know, that's such a hard sell, especially at this moment when the White House is stalled on so many other big priorities despite Democratic control of Congress.

MARTIN: Right. Thanks for that, Scott. We're going to turn to NPR's Laura Benshoff, who is reporting in Uvalde, Texas. Laura, what are people there saying about President Biden's speech?

BENSHOFF: A lot of people here support the measures Biden is calling for. NPR's Laurel Wamsley spoke⁶ with people in bars and in the town square last night. And many said they agreed that it's just too easy to access the most lethal⁷ types of firearms. Hector Gonzales, who's the president of Southwest Texas Junior College here, says he supports changes like raising the legal age to buy an assault rifle to 21.

HECTOR GONZALES: I am a hunter. And I own guns. And I have several pistols and rifles. But, you know, there is no hunting purpose for a high-capacity magazine, bullets, projectiles⁸ that tumble when they impact tissue, you know? Those are made to kill and destroy.

BENSHOFF: Another person NPR spoke with said the age limit should go even higher, like 26 years old.

MARTIN: Let's talk about the effort to find accountability for the shooting in Uvalde. At least one person there is trying to take legal action, a challenge to the manufacturer of the gun that was used by the shooter, right? What can you tell us?

BENSHOFF: Yeah, that's right. In Texas, you can actually start gathering⁹ evidence before you file a lawsuit¹⁰. It's called a petition for a pre-suit deposition¹¹. And there's a special ed staffer at the school who was there during the shooting who's filed this type of legal action. And the aim is really to gather information from the gunmaker, Daniel Defense¹², about how they advertised their AR-15-style rifles. Depending on what this petition returns, the company may be liable for marketing¹³ them in a way that is appealing to young people or appealing to people who want to commit crimes. The shooter in Uvalde was 18 and did buy his gun legally. You know, gunmakers are generally shielded from lawsuits¹⁴ when their products are used to commit a crime. But families from Sandy Hook had success with this type of lawsuit earlier this year, getting around that shield. And now others want to try it.

MARTIN: Just briefly¹⁵, Laura, can you get us an update on where the investigation¹⁶ stands right now?

BENSHOFF: Information has really been dripping out. There's a state senator here, Roland Gutierrez, who held a press conference to just criticize local law enforcement. Now, he says that we should be learning more today. The Texas Department of Public Safety is supposed to share more details, which Gutierrez said he hopes will include who was inside the school during the hour before the gunman was approached. Obviously, everyone here would really like to get to the bottom of what happened. And we may not know that until a final investigation report is released at some point in the future.

MARTIN: NPR's Laura Benshoff in Uvalde, Texas. We were also joined by NPR White House correspondent Scott Detrow in Washington. Thanks to you both.

DETROW: Sure thing.

BENSHOFF: Thank you much.

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 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。

3 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

4 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。

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 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。

7 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

8 projectiles   

n.抛射体( projectile的名词复数 )；（炮弹、子弹等）射弹，（火箭等）自动推进的武器

参考例句：

• These differences are connected with the strong absorption of the composite projectiles. 这些差别与复杂的入射粒子的强烈吸收有关。 来自辞典例句
• Projectiles became more important because cannons could now fire balls over hundreds or yards. 抛射体变得更加重要，因为人们已能用大炮把炮弹射到几百码的距离之外。 来自辞典例句

9 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

10 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

11 deposition   

n.免职，罢官；作证；沉淀；沉淀物

参考例句：

• It was this issue which led to the deposition of the king.正是这件事导致了国王被废黜。
• This leads to calcium deposition in the blood-vessels.这导致钙在血管中沉积。

12 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

13 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

14 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

15 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

16 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。