美国国家公共电台 NPR More Guns In Cars Mean More Guns Stolen From Cars

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

And now a story about unintended consequences. The number of guns stolen from cars in the U.S. is spiking¹. This is especially true in states like Tennessee, which have growing gun rights laws. They make it easier for people to keep guns in their cars. NPR's Martin Kaste brings us this story. And just a quick warning here - you will hear the sound of gunshots in this segment.

MARTIN KASTE, BYLINE²: For the last couple of years, Tennessee has been caught in something of a vicious cycle. On one hand, people are scared of getting robbed in their cars or worse. Paul Jividen works at Royal Range USA. It's a gun store and firing range on the south side of Nashville.

PAUL JIVIDEN: Just right down the street, there's been several carjacking...

(SOUNDBITE OF GUNSHOTS)

KASTE: Those gunshots are from the store's practice range.

You said they've been carjackings around here.

JIVIDEN: There's been carjackings just less than a mile down the road from here. So, yes, there's very much been an increase in desire for safety.

KASTE: And he sees that desire as people come in to buy handguns to have with them in their cars. But here's the vicious cycle part. As more people carry guns in their cars, more of them are leaving guns in their cars to be stolen by the next wave of criminals, especially youth.

BLAINE WHITED: The kids know where they're at. They understand, we check enough door handles, we're going to get something.

KASTE: That's Nashville police Lieutenant³ Blaine Whited, who runs a special task force created last year to combat rising juvenile⁴ crime. He says people are getting too comfortable with their guns, leaving them in unlocked cars where they're easily swiped.

WHITED: The crime overall is not new, but the volume, the amount that we're seeing is new. It's enough to shock you.

KASTE: Six hundred fifty-nine guns were reported stolen out of vehicles in Nashville last year. That's a 70% jump over 2016. And police say those guns often end up being used in other crimes, such as the murder in February of a local musician. In fact, right before this interview, Lieutenant Whited was getting news of another incident involving a juvenile offender⁵ who just escaped custody⁶ in a nearby county.

WHITED: During his escape, he was able to lay his hands on a brand new Toyota Tacoma pickup⁷ truck that was unlocked. There was a key along with a loaded Springfield .45 handgun. He's now been able to obtain not only a car but a loaded firearm.

KASTE: So why is this happening? Why are so many people leaving guns in unlocked cars?

G A HARDAWAY: It is crazy.

KASTE: State Representative G.A. Hardaway is a Democrat⁸ from Memphis, and he has a theory. Gun thefts from cars in his city are even worse than in Nashville - almost 1,300 last year, more than twice the number in 2015. But the thefts are rising statewide. And he traces all of this back to legislation that he and his colleagues passed earlier this decade.

HARDAWAY: There was agreement that there was a need for Tennesseans to be able to protect themselves within their cars.

KASTE: So the legislature made it easier to keep guns in cars by eliminating the requirements for permits and safety training. You still need a permit to walk around with a gun, but your car is now considered an extension of your home. No permits or training needed. Hardaway supported that change at the time, not realizing what it would lead to.

HARDAWAY: It didn't cross my mind that we would have that many stupid people with weapons in their cars. But these are the unintended consequences that we have an obligation to go back and fix.

KASTE: The fix he has in mind is relatively⁹ modest - some sort of penalty for people who leave unsecured guns in cars. He suggested it be a misdemeanor punishable with a fine. But this year at the Tennessee state Capitol, there was little interest in Hardaway's fix. Beth Joslin Roth says the politicians here are not about to admit that looser gun laws may have created a crime problem.

BETH JOSLIN ROTH: It would be political kryptonite to make an assertion like that.

KASTE: She's policy director for the Safe Tennessee Project, a gun violence prevention group. She says tighter rules for gun owners just aren't in the cards here. If anything, the trend is in the opposite direction.

ROTH: Even with our lax gun laws, over the last several years, there has been a continued push to further loosen them.

KASTE: In fact, earlier this month, the legislature voted to reduce the training that people need to walk around with a concealed¹⁰ gun. Instead of the current requirement of eight hours of in-person training with live firing on a range, it'll be enough to watch a video and take a test online. These decreasing requirements are part of a larger push toward something called permit-less carry or constitutional carry. Other states are further along in this direction. And Republican State Representative Micah Van Huss wants Tennessee to join them.

MICAH VAN HUSS: I want to uninfringe the laws that infringe¹¹ our constitutional rights. I want to get rid of them. I think it's unconstitutional to require a permit.

KASTE: Van Huss chairs a key subcommittee on constitutional rights. Not only does he oppose gun permits, he was also against Hardaway's bill to punish people who don't lock up their guns.

VAN HUSS: I just don't want to criminalize law-abiding citizens. I understand there's problems where criminals are breaking into cars and getting guns, but, you know, I don't make criminals out of law-abiding citizens.

KASTE: He says the answer is to come down harder on the thieves. And that's just what the legislature has now done, approving a new 30-day minimum sentence for the theft of a firearm. Pastor¹² Larry Rayford doesn't like the sound of that. He has a ministry¹³ in a neighborhood a couple of miles from the state Capitol. He says he often encounters the young men who are affected¹⁴ by guns stolen from cars.

LARRY RAYFORD: It's a real hurting situation. We're having children, you know, that are dying or that are murdering people or are catching¹⁵ huge murder cases now because these guns.

KASTE: Rayford doesn't excuse kids who steal guns. But he says the fact that everyone now seems to have one in the car makes them think they need to have one, too.

RAYFORD: Not only do we have children that are stealing guns, but we also have children that are scared for their life. So now they're trying to protect theyself and they think the best way to protect theyself is to have a firearm.

KASTE: And he's baffled by the apparent indifference¹⁶ of gun owners who make it so easy for kids to get their hands on the guns. That's actually something you hear people saying at the firing ranges, too.

(SOUNDBITE OF GUNSHOTS)

KASTE: Back at Royal Range USA, Paul Jividen says it's, quote, "beyond insanity¹⁷" for someone to leave a gun in an unlocked car. He urges his customers to buy gun safes or locks for their cars and more.

JIVIDEN: Our biggest objective is to train people. If you've gone on through one of our classes, you're not going to be one of the people that is violating these very basic rules of gun safety.

KASTE: That said, Jividen does not think the state should go back to requiring training for guns kept in cars. He also sees that as an infringement¹⁸ to the Second Amendment¹⁹. And that is where things stand right now in Tennessee - a widespread desire for more common sense with guns but deep disagreement about whether that common sense should be required by law. Martin Kaste, NPR News, Nashville.

1 spiking   

n.尖峰形成v.加烈酒于( spike的现在分词 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划

参考例句：

• High spiking fever with chills is suggestive of a complicating pylephlebitis. 伴有寒战的高热，暗示合并门静脉炎。 来自辞典例句
• We could be spiking our own guns. 我们可能要遭到失败。 来自辞典例句

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 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

4 juvenile   

n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的

参考例句：

• For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人，他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
• Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。

5 offender   

n.冒犯者，违反者，犯罪者

参考例句：

• They all sued out a pardon for an offender.他们请求法院赦免一名罪犯。
• The authorities often know that sex offenders will attack again when they are released.当局一般都知道性犯罪者在获释后往往会再次犯案。

6 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

7 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

8 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

9 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。

10 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。

11 infringe   

v.违反，触犯，侵害

参考例句：

• The jury ruled that he had infringed no rules.陪审团裁决他没有违反任何规定。
• He occasionally infringe the law by parking near a junction.他因偶尔将车停放在交叉口附近而违反规定。

12 pastor   

n.牧师，牧人

参考例句：

• He was the son of a poor pastor.他是一个穷牧师的儿子。
• We have no pastor at present:the church is run by five deacons.我们目前没有牧师：教会的事是由五位执事管理的。

13 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

14 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。

15 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

16 indifference   

n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎

参考例句：

• I was disappointed by his indifference more than somewhat.他的漠不关心使我很失望。
• He feigned indifference to criticism of his work.他假装毫不在意别人批评他的作品。

17 insanity   

n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐

参考例句：

• In his defense he alleged temporary insanity.他伪称一时精神错乱，为自己辩解。
• He remained in his cell,and this visit only increased the belief in his insanity.他依旧还是住在他的地牢里，这次视察只是更加使人相信他是个疯子了。

18 infringement   

n.违反；侵权

参考例句：

• Infringement of this regulation would automatically rule you out of the championship.违背这一规则会被自动取消参加锦标赛的资格。
• The committee ruled that the US ban constituted an infringement of free trade.委员会裁定美国的禁令对自由贸易构成了侵犯

19 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。