美国国家公共电台 NPR What If We Treated Gun Violence Like A Public Health Crisis?

 

ELISE HU, HOST:

More than 30,000 people are killed by guns every year in the U.S. That's more than those that die of AIDS, and more - and about the same number as those who die in car crashes or from liver disease. But unlike diseases and car crashes, the federal government doesn't treat gun injuries or deaths as a public health threat.

Public health leaders say there are ways to reduce the toll¹ of gun violence. NPR's Alison Kodjak reports that politics have gotten in the way.

ALISON KODJAK, BYLINE²: When U.S. officials feared an outbreak of the Zika virus last year, the Department of Health and Human Services, along with state officials, went into high gear. They allocated³ more than a billion dollars to deal with the potential threat. They tested mosquitoes neighborhood by neighborhood. They launched outreach campaigns to encourage people to use bug⁴ spray. And they pushed the development of a vaccine⁵.

VIVEK MURTHY: The response was swift.

KODJAK: That's former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy.

MURTHY: I was in the administration at that time, and we mobilized a tremendous number of resources to respond to Zika.

KODJAK: When an Ebola outbreak struck a year earlier in Africa, the story was the same. Congress almost immediately allocated billions for research and response. But last month, when 50 people died and more than 400 were injured in Las Vegas, and then within weeks another 26 died in Texas of the same cause, health officials have had almost no role.

MURTHY: If you look at the number of people who have died or been injured from gun violence, that dwarfs⁶ the number of people who have been affected⁷ by Zika or Ebola. There's absolutely no comparison.

KODJAK: Yet the government spends only about $22 million a year on research into gun violence. The reason - Congress. Back in 1997, lawmakers added a provision in the bill that funds the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention barring the agency from doing anything that would, quote, "advocate or promote gun control." At the same time, they cut the CDC's budget by the exact amount it had been spending on gun violence research.

The result was that government research into the causes of gun violence all but stopped. The issue comes up routinely after mass shootings. Two years ago, after a young man killed nine people in a church in South Carolina, our reporter asked former House Speaker John Boehner about the CDC restrictions⁸.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

JOHN BOEHNER: The CDC is there to look at diseases that need to be dealt with to protect the public health. I'm sorry, but a gun is not a disease.

KODJAK: After the most recent shootings, Democrats⁹ in Congress have called for more restrictions on guns, while Republicans, including President Trump¹⁰, say the problem is mental health. But neither approach is backed by research, says Dr. Georges Benjamin, the executive director of the American Public Health Association.

GEORGES BENJAMIN: When a new disease - particularly an infectious disease - enters the community, we have a mechanism¹¹ to anticipate it, track it, get our arms around it. We do that when we have, you know, measles¹², mumps¹³, chicken pox, Zika. But firearm-related death and disability, we don't.

KODJAK: He says that knowledge could lead to policies that reduce the toll of guns without cutting off access.

BENJAMIN: Firearms are a tool. And it's a consumer product. And unlike other consumer products, we're not working hard to make that consumer product safer.

KODJAK: The way we do with cars, he says. Benjamin points to the combination of safety features - like airbags and seat belts - and safety policies - like requiring licensing¹⁴ and banning drunk driving - that have made cars less lethal¹⁵ while ensuring they're still available.

BENJAMIN: So we've done everything we can to ensure that this epidemic¹⁶ of death and disability from firearms is only going to get worse.

KODJAK: Unless, he says, lawmakers decide they want to find out what causes gun violence and study ways to prevent it. Alison Kodjak, NPR News, Washington.

1 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

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 allocated   

adj. 分配的 动词allocate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The Ford Foundation allocated millions of dollars for cancer research. 福特基金会拨款数百万美元用于癌症研究。
• More funds will now be allocated to charitable organizations. 现在会拨更多的资金给慈善组织。

4 bug   

n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器

参考例句：

• There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
• The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。

5 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

6 dwarfs   

n.侏儒，矮子（dwarf的复数形式）vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Shakespeare dwarfs other dramatists. 莎士比亚使其他剧作家相形见绌。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The new building dwarfs all the other buildings in the town. 新大楼使城里所有其他建筑物都显得矮小了。 来自辞典例句

7 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。

8 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

9 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 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。

11 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

12 measles   

n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子

参考例句：

• The doctor is quite definite about Tom having measles.医生十分肯定汤姆得了麻疹。
• The doctor told her to watch out for symptoms of measles.医生叫她注意麻疹出现的症状。

13 mumps   

n.腮腺炎

参考例句：

• Sarah got mumps from her brother.萨拉的弟弟患腮腺炎，传染给她了。
• I was told not go near Charles. He is sickening for mumps.别人告诉我不要走近查尔斯， 他染上了流行性腮腺炎。

14 licensing   

v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• A large part of state regulation consists of occupational licensing. 大部分州的管理涉及行业的特许批准。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• That licensing procedures for projects would move faster. 这样的工程批准程序一定会加快。 来自辞典例句

15 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

16 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。