述说美国真相：控枪路道阻且长 凸显美式人权之殇

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Frequent mass shootings in recent weeks have left many Americans stunned at the country's persistent failure to stop the gun violence epidemic.  

美国枪击暴力痼疾难愈的现状早已引发各界批判之声不断。

据英国天空新闻频道援引美国“枪支暴力档案”网站数据报道，自5月24日得克萨斯州罗布小学发生枪击事件以来，过去两周里，全美50个州中又有43个州发生了650多起枪击事件，共造成730人死亡，其中包括23名儿童和66名少年。这些冰冷的数字令一些美国民众再次呼吁控枪。

On May 14, an 18-year-old gunman, driven by racial paranoia, went on a shooting rampage at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, killing 10 shoppers, mostly African Americans. Just 10 days later, another 18-year-old, Salvador Ramos, opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 pupils and two adults until someone shot him dead.  

2022年5月14日，一名18岁白人男子在纽约州布法罗城的一家超市里向顾客开枪射击，导致10人死亡、3人受伤，其中11名受害者均为非裔美国人。更有甚者，该嫌疑人还在网上直播了袭击过程。而在这起惨剧过去仅仅10天后，另一名18岁的美国青年在得克萨斯州尤瓦尔迪市罗伯小学开枪行凶，导致21人死亡，其中19名受害者为儿童。

These horrors bear at least one thing in common - the lethal murder weapon. The two young gunmen each carried a military-style assault rifle with high-capacity magazines, which enabled them to keep shooting and kill large numbers of people before reloading. 

一幕幕血腥的悲剧有着一点相同之处——两名年轻歹徒持有的致命凶器均是配有大容量弹匣的AR-15半自动步枪，这使得他们作恶时的火力不容小觑。

The fact that most of Ramos' victims were children makes his crime even more horrific. The killings at Robb Elementary School resemble many other tragedies that took place in American schools in the past decades, and have sounded another alarm about the harms that gun violence, caused by the easy availability of guns, has inflicted on numerous American families. The recent tragedies have reignited heated discussions on how America can go further on gun control.

得州罗伯小学枪击案中的受害者大多为儿童，这起袭击亦是美国近10年来最致命的一起校园枪击案。以生命为代价的惨剧又一次为美国控枪问题敲响了警钟，由此引发了激烈讨论。

School shootings have long been a category of its own in America's eye-dizzying gun violence statistics. Since the 1980s, perpetrators behind mass shootings in the U.S. have gotten younger, according to a database maintained by Mother Jones.

事实上，在令人眼花缭乱的美国枪支暴力统计数据中，校园枪击案并不罕见。非盈利新闻机构“琼斯母亲”(Mother Jones)对美国大规模枪击事件的统计数据则表明，自20世纪80年代以来，美国大规模枪击案的幕后凶手呈年轻化趋势。

Among America's deadliest classroom gun massacres over the past two decades, from Columbine High School in 1999 to Robb Elementary School last month, the age of shooters has been 17-20 years old.

从1999年的得州科伦拜恩高中枪击案到上月的罗伯小学枪击案，其中最致命的几起校园枪杀案凶手的年龄为17-20岁。“枪支暴力档案”网站对大规模枪击事件的定义是，除枪手外，有4人或4人以上遭枪击或射杀身亡。

In 2020, there were 45,222 gun-related deaths in the U.S. - a significant jump from the previous year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among them, roughly 43% were murders. 

根据美国疾控中心的数据显示，2020年共有 45,222人死于枪支暴力，该数据较之2019年有显著增长。与此同时，因枪支暴力丧生的人群中有大约43%的人是死于谋杀。

On the morning of Valentine’s Day, 2018, Joaquin Oliver walked into school with flowers and a plan for a date with his girlfriend. 

2018年的情人节悄然到来。踏着清晨的光明，奥利弗手捧鲜花走入校园，满心期待着与女友的浪漫约会。

For his parents, Patricia and Manuel Oliver, February 14, 2018 would be forever remembered as the day they lost their son. Later in the afternoon, Joaquin was shot and killed in a hallway outside his creative writing class at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. 

对于他的父母而言，这一年的情人节则终生难忘——当天下午，奥利弗在佛罗里达州帕克兰市马乔里·斯通曼·道格拉斯高中的校园内被枪杀。噩耗传来，其父母悲痛欲绝。

The 19-year-old gunman, a former student at the school, also took the lives of 16 other students and injured 17 others. The killing spree outstripped the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 and became the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history. 

在这起枪击案中，19岁的枪手使用AR-15半自动步枪杀害学生和教师共17人，另有17人受伤。这场疯狂的杀戮甚至超过了当年的科伦拜恩校园枪击案件，一度成为美国历史上死亡人数最多的高中枪击案。

While Americans overwhelmingly believe mass shootings can be prevented, the political left and right have vastly different opinions on how to achieve it. 

尽管绝大多数美国民众认为大规模枪击事件是可以避免的，美国的左翼和右翼政治人士却对此各执一词。

In general, Democrats advocate for gun control and favor fewer people to possess them. Republicans tend to oppose gun restrictions, and argue that more people having guns would help reduce mass shootings. 

民主党主张枪支管制，即通过减少持有枪支的人数来实现控枪的目的。共和党则反对限制枪支，他们认为拥有枪支的人越多，越能有助于减少大规模枪击事件。

The fierce debate on ending the vicious cycle of gun violence is further complicated by the election win of Donald Trump, whose presidency had awakened the nation’s conservative forces, along with enthusiasm for guns. 

昔年，美国前总统唐纳德·特朗普有关结束枪支暴力恶性循环的激烈辩论令局势更加复杂。在他的总统任期之内，美国的保守势力被唤醒，人们对枪支的“热情”也被唤醒。

America’s biggest gun lobby, the National Rifle Association, added 225,000 new paying members in the first half of 2021, making its membership over five million. Politicians who intend to make it a little bit harder to obtain a firearm will have to face this bloc of single-issue voters.

事实上，美国存在不少因枪支而形成的利益集团，其中规模最大的当属“全美步枪协会”(National Rifle Association，简称NRA) ，前总统特朗普也是其忠实拥护者。纵观2021年上半年的数据，NRA新增了225,000名付费会员，累计会员人数则超过500万。

这一现状导致了一些试图控枪的美国政客不得不面对单一议题选民。所谓的“单一议题选民”不同于一般的选民，他们的投票是基于一个单一的公共政策问题，比如医保、移民、堕胎、枪支，而这样的问题往往也是两党的分歧所在。

Yet, the series of tragic events in recent days do seem to shift public sentiment in favor of gun restriction, at least for the moment. Following the mass shooting in Uvalde, and an earlier one in Buffalo, a majority of U.S. adults say it's more important to control gun violence than to protect gun rights, according to the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll. The 59%-to-35% margin is the widest in favor of controlling gun violence recorded in a decade in the Marist poll. The poll also finds a sharp partisan divide — 92% of Democrats say it's more important to control gun violence, while 70% of Republicans say it's more important to protect gun rights. 

在经历了得州罗伯小学枪击案和近期的其它枪支暴力惨剧之后，美国民众对于控枪的支持率有所改变。

由美国全国公共广播电台(NPR)、美国公共广播公司(PBS)和马里斯特学院(Marist)共同发布的一项民意调查结果显示，大多数美国民众支持“控制枪支暴力比保护枪支权利更为重要”的观点。另外，马里斯特学院(Marist)参与的民意调查也发现支持控枪的呼声已然在美国国内达到了十年中的最高值。支持控枪的调查对象人数占比为59%，支持保护枪支权利的占比则为35%。该民意调查也指出了目前美国不同党派对控枪存在很大分歧，即92%的民主党人呼吁控制枪支暴力，而70%的共和党人仍主张保护枪支权利更为重要。

The sound of gunfire has shattered the "American Dream", however, the price of blood is yet to make the U.S. government take actions. With the reality of political polarization, politicians' buck-passing and governance failures, the future of achieving gun restrictions is long and difficult to end the vicious cycle of gun violence.

枪声击碎了“美国梦”，血的代价未能换来美国政府立即采取实际行动。面对政治极化、政客推诿、治理失灵的现实，若要彻底终结枪支暴力引发的悲剧循环，美国控枪之路道阻且长。

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