美国国家公共电台 NPR The Politics Of Bump Stocks, 1 Year After Las Vegas Shooting

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

It's been almost a year now since many Americans first heard the term bump stock. A reminder¹, this is that piece of hardware you can use to adapt certain guns to make them shoot faster, deploy² more bullets. The Las Vegas gunman is believed to have used them on his rifles to inflict³ the most possible damage on that country music festival happening across the street from his hotel. At the time, there were calls for a bump stock ban. One year later, NPR's Martin Kaste follows up on where that stands.

MARTIN KASTE, BYLINE⁴: Right after Las Vegas, Jeff LaCroix decided⁵ he wanted to give his daughter, Haley, a chance to fire a bump stock before it was too late.

(SOUNDBITE OF YOUTUBE VIDEO)

JEFF LACROIX: Yeah. You've told me. She's like, I want to shoot it before - if they have to get rid of it, I want to shoot it before we have to get rid of it. And today we're going to do that.

KASTE: LaCroix has a YouTube channel dedicated⁶ to outdoorsy pursuits in rural Louisiana, and he posted this video of himself and Haley six days after Las Vegas. She's grinning, a little nervous. Her ear protectors are decorated with freshly picked flowers.

(SOUNDBITE OF YOUTUBE VIDEO)

LACROIX: Put your finger in there. Hold tight right there. OK. Push. More pressure. Hold...

(SOUNDBITE OF GUNSHOTS)

HALEY: Oh, my God. OK.

LACROIX: (Laughter).

HALEY: It's fun. Oh, God.

KASTE: LaCroix says it's just a thrill shooting something that's almost as fast as a machine gun. At the time, he was expecting bump stocks to be banned right away. Now a year later, he's still waiting.

LACROIX: Did I think after the shooting that they were going to take them immediately? Yes. I'm surprised they haven't done something earlier, or tried to do something earlier.

KASTE: What happened is this. Last fall, there were calls for federal legislation banning bump stocks, but that idea didn't go far in the Republican-controlled Congress. Then President Trump⁷ came out against bump stocks, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives started looking for a regulatory fix. The ATF is now considering whether to define bump stocks and similar devices as machine guns, which would make them illegal under existing federal law. So far, the ATF has collected public comments on this, more than 35,000 of them. Alia McCants is a mother of young twins in New York, and she told the ATF that she saw no good reason for anyone to own a bump stock.

ALIA MCCANTS: Is your fun worth someone else's life? And if not then let's take some reasonable, common-sense measures to protect the lives of, you know, of our kids, of each other.

KASTE: The thing is, most avid⁸ shooters don't even want bump stocks, even for fun. The devices are generally considered a gimmick⁹, something that makes a rifle jump around too much while burning through a small fortune in ammunition¹⁰. Michael Hammond is the legislative¹¹ counsel for Gun Owners of America. He personally has no interest in shooting with bump stocks, but still he's unhappy about the potential federal ban.

MICHAEL HAMMOND: Our question is whether or not this is an effort to go the back door and ban semiautomatics by regulation.

KASTE: And here's the thinking. A bump stock is a very simple thing, mechanically. It just uses the rifle's recoil¹², that jump as it fires, to pull the trigger again for you faster than your finger could. Some hobbyists have achieved the same effect with homemade devices. There's even a video of a man bump-firing his rifle with nothing more than a thick rubber band wrapped around the trigger.

(SOUNDBITE OF YOUTUBE VIDEO)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: That was 32 rounds bump-fired from the shoulder.

KASTE: And if a rubber band is all it takes, Hammond says a ban on bump stocks could pave the way for a ban on any rifle that might be bump-fired this way. That argument gets no sympathy from William Rosen. He's with Everytown for Gun Safety.

WILLIAM ROSEN: I think the gun lobby and gun extremists have to default to this slippery slope argument and just essentially¹³ scare people - scare, you know, well-meaning, law-abiding gun owners into thinking there's going to be some dire¹⁴ consequence.

KASTE: While federal action is still pending¹⁵, gun control groups are cheered by action at the state level. Rosen counts 10 states that have banned or restricted bump stocks since Las Vegas, and he sees a new willingness by states to step in where the feds won't. Not just on bump stocks but other gun issues, too, such as red flag laws, which make it easier for police to take firearms from people believed to be a threat. And in this larger arena¹⁶ of gun policy, Rosen does agree with the gun rights people on one thing - bump stocks, per se, are relatively¹⁷ unimportant.

ROSEN: You know, prohibiting bump stocks is a very small part of the overall strategy to reduce gun violence in this country, but I think it just indicated, again, where we are politically.

KASTE: Where we are politically is here - a gimmicky¹⁸, rarely used rifle attachment¹⁹ that most people had never heard of before Las Vegas has now become a symbol for both sides in the American debate over guns.

Martin Kaste, NPR News.

1 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。

2 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

3 inflict   

vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担

参考例句：

• Don't inflict your ideas on me.不要把你的想法强加于我。
• Don't inflict damage on any person.不要伤害任何人。

4 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。

5 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。

6 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

7 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。

8 avid   

adj.热心的；贪婪的；渴望的；劲头十足的

参考例句：

• He is rich,but he is still avid of more money.他很富有,但他还想贪图更多的钱。
• She was avid for praise from her coach.那女孩渴望得到教练的称赞。

9 gimmick   

n.(为引人注意而搞的)小革新，小发明

参考例句：

• 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。
• It is just a public relations gimmick.这只不过是一种公关伎俩。

10 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

11 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

12 recoil   

vi.退却，退缩，畏缩

参考例句：

• Most people would recoil at the sight of the snake.许多人看见蛇都会向后退缩。
• Revenge may recoil upon the person who takes it.报复者常会受到报应。

13 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。

14 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

15 pending   

prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的

参考例句：

• The lawsuit is still pending in the state court.这案子仍在州法庭等待定夺。
• He knew my examination was pending.他知道我就要考试了。

16 arena   

n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台

参考例句：

• She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
• He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。

17 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

18 gimmicky   

adj.诡计的，骗人的

参考例句：

• A gimmicky or imbalanced team relies on one powerful tactic to win. 投机取巧的团队依靠单一的强力战术制胜。 来自互联网

19 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。