美国国家公共电台 NPR 20 Years On, The Background Check System Continues To Miss Dangerous Gun Buyers

 

SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:

Twenty years ago today, President Clinton addressed the nation after 13 people were killed by a gunman at Columbine High School in Colorado.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)

BILL CLINTON: Hillary and I are profoundly shocked and saddened by the tragedy today in Littleton, where two students opened fire on their classmates before apparently¹ turning their guns on themselves.

PFEIFFER: Just months before that shooting, the federal government had established a background check system for gun purchases, and the FBI says it has conducted more than 300 million background checks since then. But mass shootings continue to plague the country. NPR's Brakkton Booker reports on some of the shortcomings of the system.

BRAKKTON BOOKER, BYLINE²: Back in 1999, President Clinton called the National Instant Background Check System, or NICS for short, a powerful crime-fighting tool.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)

CLINTON: Since our new instant criminal background check system went into effect, 100,000 illegal purchases have been stopped by the insta-check system.

BOOKER: It is designed to work quickly, and 20 years later, it still does. A federally licensed³ gun dealer⁴ contacts NICS when someone tries to buy a gun. The dealer is told the purchase is approved or denied. There's also one other possibility - the transaction can be delayed for up to three business days.

LAWRENCE KEANE: If after three business days, and they have not gotten a response one way or the other from NICS, they are permitted by law to transfer the firearm.

BOOKER: That's Lawrence Keane of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. He says the gun transaction can go through even if the FBI hasn't completed the background check in the allotted⁵ time frame.

KEANE: Like any database, the system is only as good as the records that are put into the system.

BOOKER: The system relies on a collection of state and federal records, but it's sometimes incomplete. That became clear nearly eight years to the day after the Columbine shooting.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)

GEORGE W BUSH: Our nation is shocked and saddened by the news of the shootings at Virginia Tech today.

BOOKER: That shooter would have been denied his gun purchases, but important court documents declaring him a danger to himself never made it into the NICS system. And this wasn't the last time the system failed. In 2017, the shooter in Sutherland Springs, Texas, should not have been able to obtain a weapon. He went on to kill 27 people, including himself. A few years before that, there was another system failure in Charleston, S.C.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)

BARACK OBAMA: I've had to make statements like this too many times. Communities like this have had to endure tragedies like this too many times. We don't have all the facts, but we do know that once again, innocent people were killed, in part because someone who wanted to inflict⁶ harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun.

BOOKER: In that shooting, nine black churchgoers were killed by a white supremacist. It was Stephen Morris who oversaw⁷ the FBI background check division at the time of the Charleston shooting.

STEPHEN MORRIS: Generally, the weaknesses of the NICS system are talked about mostly in the wake of a tragic⁸ shooting, which seems to be more often than not.

BOOKER: In the Charleston case, the FBI delayed the gun transaction. But because of poor communications between federal and state authorities, the background check wasn't resolved in three business days. So the gun purchase went through in what's called a default proceed. It was later discovered the shooter previously⁹ admitted to possessing a controlled substance, and that would have triggered a deny for the handgun.

Over the years, the FBI says it's denied some 1.3 million gun transfers. But Morris says, even with tweaks to the system, lawmakers haven't done enough to ease the strain on federal investigators¹⁰.

MORRIS: The one area that legislators - Congress, specifically - could release some of that pressure is extending that deadline.

BOOKER: It's not just the crunch¹¹ to conduct a search in three business days. It's also the sheer volume of checks. The FBI says it's conducted more than 300 million background checks, including 26 million just last year. Again, Stephen Morris.

MORRIS: We're talking about a system and a process that was created over 20 years ago. It goes without saying that the system is stressed out.

BOOKER: In addition to the system being stressed out, Morris says it's also limited, unable to catch thousands of other firearms transactions, legal and illegal, that wouldn't trigger the NICS system, like in Parkland, Fla.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP¹²: A school filled with innocent children and caring teachers became the scene of terrible violence, hatred¹³ and evil.

BOOKER: Intent - it's one more thing NICS can't detect. So once a gun is purchased, the background check system no longer provides a safeguard.

Brakkton Booker, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF PAUL WHITE'S "RETURNING")

1 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

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 licensed   

adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US. 这种新药尚未在美国获得许可。
• Is that gun licensed? 那支枪有持枪执照吗？

4 dealer   

n.商人，贩子

参考例句：

• The dealer spent hours bargaining for the painting.那个商人为购买那幅画花了几个小时讨价还价。
• The dealer reduced the price for cash down.这家商店对付现金的人减价优惠。

5 allotted   

分配，拨给，摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I completed the test within the time allotted . 我在限定的时间内完成了试验。
• Each passenger slept on the berth allotted to him. 每个旅客都睡在分配给他的铺位上。

6 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。

7 oversaw   

v.监督，监视( oversee的过去式 )

参考例句：

• He will go down as the president who oversaw two historic transitions. 他将作为见证了巴西两次历史性转变的总统，安然引退。 来自互联网
• Dixon oversaw the project as creative director of Design Research Studio. 狄克逊监督项目的创意总监设计研究工作室。 来自互联网

8 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

9 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

10 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

12 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。

13 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。