美国国家公共电台 NPR In Florida, Cities Challenge State On Gun Regulation Laws

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

A school shooting in Florida prompted a nationwide drive for more gun laws, but cities in Florida are not likely to join in. The state of Florida did impose a waiting period for gun purchases and raised the age for gun sales to 21. Some city leaders in Florida would like to do more, and they are not happy that state law explicitly¹ forbids them. NPR's Greg Allen reports.

GREG ALLEN, BYLINE²: Under Florida law, only the state legislature is allowed to regulate firearms. Local government officials who ignore that law face stiff penalties - removal from office, a $5,000 fine they must pay from their personal funds and lawsuits³ from any person or group affected⁵. That's effectively stopped local governments from taking any action on guns, until Parkland. Following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, like the students, local government officials are speaking up.

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RAUL VALDES-FAULI: Our legislature is cowardly, I think. They are sold to the NRA, and it takes cities or individuals or communities such as ours to do something.

ALLEN: That's Raul Valdes-Fauli, the mayor of Coral Gables, a Miami suburb. After the Parkland shooting, he and the city's commissioners⁶ voted to adopt a ban on high-velocity semiautomatic rifles. It lasted just three weeks. It was overturned after some commissioners reconsidered the consequences. Coral Gables gun collector Raul Mas Canosa (ph) came to a commission meeting with a threat.

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RAUL MAS CANOSA: If you pass this law, we will sue you. Chances are, as your own city attorney has told you, is we will win and you will end up paying not just your attorney's fees, but you'll be paying our plaintiffs' fees, as well.

ALLEN: Coral Gables is now taking another approach. It's joining at least eight other cities to challenge the penalties in a law that preempt⁷ cities' ability to regulate guns. It's a lawsuit⁴ initiated⁸ by Daniel Stermer, the mayor of Weston, a community about 20 miles from Parkland. If it's successful, Stermer says, he has a local ordinance⁹ ready to go. It would prohibit guns in Weston's public buildings and parks.

DANIEL STERMER: If you walk into City Hall today or a park today, we can't even put up a sign that says no firearms allowed. We used to have them there, but once the preemption came in, we had to take it down.

ALLEN: The penalties targeting local officials were added in 2011 to a law that already preempted¹⁰ cities and counties from regulating guns. NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer helped write it and get it past.

MARION HAMMER: Elected public officials put themselves above the law. So the legislature had to come back and put penalties in.

ALLEN: Hammer has no comment on this lawsuit or a second one challenging Florida's preemption law planned by Every Town For Gun Safety, a group backed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. But she says in a state where more than 1.8 million people have permits to carry a concealed¹¹ weapon, it's important to have a single set of gun laws.

HAMMER: In a mobile society, citizens could inadvertently violate local ordinances¹² by simply traveling our state with no way of knowing what these local ordinances were.

ALLEN: If the lawsuits are successful, some cities are considering bans on high-velocity semiautomatic rifles and high-capacity magazine clips. Gun control advocates unsuccessfully tried to get those provisions added to the law recently passed by the state legislature. There's now a move to put those two measures on the ballot¹³ for voters to consider statewide. Skip Campbell is the mayor of Coral Springs, the town next door to Parkland. To put the measures on the ballot in Florida, he says, proponents¹⁴ will need more than a million signatures. And to pass it, they'll need 60 percent of voters to approve it. Campbell concedes it's a high bar.

SKIP CAMPBELL: I'm hoping that the young people who have shown up and have taken this issue on will stay engaged and will in fact help us get by the signature issue. And then I'm hoping that those same young people - because they're turning 18 - will get out there and vote.

ALLEN: Campbell says organizers want to get the measures on the ballot in 2020, a presidential election year. Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami.

1 explicitly   

ad.明确地，显然地

参考例句：

• The plan does not explicitly endorse the private ownership of land. 该计划没有明确地支持土地私有制。
• SARA amended section 113 to provide explicitly for a right to contribution. 《最高基金修正与再授权法案》修正了第123条，清楚地规定了分配权。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

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 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

4 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。

5 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

6 commissioners   

n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官

参考例句：

• The Commissioners of Inland Revenue control British national taxes. 国家税收委员管理英国全国的税收。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The SEC has five commissioners who are appointed by the president. 证券交易委员会有５名委员，是由总统任命的。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

7 preempt   

v.先发制人；先取

参考例句：

• We arrived early at the theatre so as to preempt the front seats.我们早早来到剧院，以便捷足先登占到前排座位。
• He pre-empted any decision to sack him.他预先阻止了所有解雇他的决定。

8 initiated   

n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入

参考例句：

• He has not yet been thoroughly initiated into the mysteries of computers. 他对计算机的奥秘尚未入门。
• The artist initiated the girl into the art world in France. 这个艺术家介绍这个女孩加入巴黎艺术界。

9 ordinance   

n.法令；条令；条例

参考例句：

• The Ordinance of 1785 provided the first land grants for educational purposes.1785年法案为教育目的提供了第一批土地。
• The city passed an ordinance compelling all outdoor lighting to be switched off at 9.00 PM.该市通过一条法令强令晚上九点关闭一切室外照明。

10 preempted   

v.先占( preempt的过去式和过去分词 )；取代；先取；先发制人

参考例句：

• A special news program preempted the scheduled shows. 特别的新节目取代预定计划的表演。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The armymen have preempted the powers of the local government. 军人已夺取了地方政府的权力。 来自互联网

11 concealed   

a.隐藏的，隐蔽的

参考例句：

• The paintings were concealed beneath a thick layer of plaster. 那些画被隐藏在厚厚的灰泥层下面。
• I think he had a gun concealed about his person. 我认为他当时身上藏有一支枪。

12 ordinances   

n.条例，法令( ordinance的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These points of view, however, had not been generally accepted in building ordinances. 然而，这些观点仍未普遍地为其他的建筑条例而接受。 来自辞典例句
• Great are Your mercies, O Lord; Revive me according to Your ordinances. 诗119:156耶和华阿、你的慈悲本为大．求你照你的典章将我救活。 来自互联网

13 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

14 proponents   

n.（某事业、理论等的）支持者，拥护者( proponent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Reviewing courts were among the most active proponents of hybrid rulemaking procedures. 复审法院是最积极的混合型规则制定程序的建议者。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• Proponents of such opinions were arrested as 'traitors. ' 提倡这种主张的人马上作为“卖国贼”逮捕起来。 来自辞典例句