美国国家公共电台 NPR The Gun Industry Pushes Back On Call To Ban Suppressors In Virginia（在线收听）

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The shooter who attacked a municipal building in Virginia Beach used a gun accessory called a suppressor. They're made to muffle the sound of gunfire. Suppressors have become a focal point of the gun debate in Virginia. The Democratic governor wants them banned. Republicans and the National Rifle Association are pushing back. A warning to listeners now - you will hear the sound of gunshots in this story. NPR's Brakkton Booker reports.

BRAKKTON BOOKER, BYLINE: Christi Dewar is a longtime Virginia Beach Public Works employee. She's also a survivor. Here she is just days after the shooting, describing to NPR her first thoughts as the attack unfolded.

CHRISTI DEWAR: We were sitting at our desk, and there's construction or remodeling going on. And when we heard the first shots, it sounded like a nail gun going off.

BOOKER: That might be because the suppressor the gunman was using distorted the sound of the gun.

(SOUNDBITE OF GUNFIRE)

BOOKER: But as gun experts at the NRA in Northern Virginia pointed out yesterday, silencers don't actually silence a gun when it's discharged. Knox Williams is the president of the American Suppressor Association.

KNOX WILLIAMS: Suppressors are essentially mufflers for a gun.

BOOKER: The NRA invited members of the media to their gun range to show us how suppressors work. A mix of handguns and long rifles were fired with and without a suppressor. For our purposes, we'll just focus on the 45 caliber handgun, like the one used in the Virginia Beach shooting. First, the gun without the suppressor.

(SOUNDBITE OF GUNFIRE)

BOOKER: Now here's the 45 with the suppressor on it.

(SOUNDBITE OF SUPPRESSED GUNFIRE)

WILLIAMS: Did anyone not hear that suppressed gunshot?

BOOKER: No hands from the media go up. And then they brought in a nail gun for comparison.

(SOUNDBITE OF NAIL GUN FIRING)

BOOKER: My takeaway - guns are loud, and a suppressor only changes that to a certain extent. What does matter - your proximity to the gun and if you're expected to hear gunshots in the first place. Chances are sitting at your desk is not one of those times. That's when gunfire could sound like a nail gun. Williams says what the suppressor can do for the user is help protect hearing.

WILLIAMS: We don't think that people who want to exercise their Second Amendment right to shoot and hunt, defend themselves should have to sacrifice their hearing in the process.

BOOKER: David Chipman vehemently disagrees with that as the primary purpose for suppressors. He served 25 years as a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and now is a senior policy adviser at the anti-gun violence organization Giffords Law Center.

DAVID CHIPMAN: The primary purpose is for someone who is on the offensive to maintain the element of surprise longer. And if that's the intention of an attacker at a workplace, it's really a recipe for disaster.

BOOKER: Just days after the Virginia Beach shooting, Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam called for lawmakers to change the state's gun laws. Northam called for a ban on military-style weapons, including bump stocks and suppressors. He wants to reinstate Virginia's one gun purchase a month policy and universal background checks, among other things. Catherine Mortensen is a spokesperson for the NRA's lobbying branch. She says the governor is exploiting a tragedy.

CATHERINE MORTENSEN: I think that not a single one of Governor Northam's gun control proposals would have prevented what happened at Virginia Beach. That's the bottom line. This is a gun grab by the governor.

BOOKER: Virginia Democrats have been holding forums around the state to drum up support for Northam's new push to change gun laws. If they succeed and the suppressor ban is approved, Virginia will join eight other states that already have similar laws on the books.

Brakkton Booker, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF ROCKET MINER'S "MY FRIEND COMA")