2006年VOA标准英语-Gun Control Debate Resurfaces in Wake of Deadly

By Richard Green
Washington, DC
05 October 2006
 
watch report School Shootings

A man walks past a flag flying at half-mast in Bart, Pa., Thursday morning, Oct. 5, 2006 as the area prepares for four funerals  
  
Parents and communities across the United States have been shaken by a recent series of deadly school shootings in a handful of small towns and rural communities.  The violence has focused attention on a longstanding argument about whether the U.S. should enact¹ stronger gun control laws. 

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In less than a week, a total of six students across the United States have been shot and killed.  Five girls between the ages of 13 and 7 died after a stranger seized their one-room schoolhouse in a remote area of Pennsylvania. 

Just days earlier, a female high school student in Colorado was killed after a homeless man took her and several classmates hostage.

Between those two incidents, a 15-year-old student gunned down a principal at a small Wisconsin high school.  

Paul Helmke  
  
Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, says the incidents are proof the entire nation can be affected² by gun violence. "And for too long, folks have turned basically a blind eye to some of the shootings if they occur in the poorer part of town, or the other part of town, or felt that it happened in the big city, or people of a different color or a different class.  These recent shootings, certainly tragic³, part of what they do is they bring home that this is happening every day at some level in America."

The Brady Campaign is one of many groups, which have advocated for stronger gun control laws in the United States.  In the 1990s, they successfully pushed for laws that require a waiting period and background check for potential gun buyers, and a ban on assault weapons.

But Helmke says their efforts have gotten more difficult in recent years. "If anything, we've gone backwards⁴, we've let the assault weapons ban expire in 2004. We constantly are fighting legislation that would make it harder to crack down on gun dealers⁵, that would make it impossible to find out where the guns that are used illegally are coming from."

They have also come up against many groups, such as the Natonal Rifle Association, which believe more gun control laws would violate the second amendment⁶ to the U.S. Constitution, which gives citizens the right to keep and bear arms.  

Connie Hair   
  
Connie Hair, a spokeswoman for the Second Amendment Sisters, says this is more than just a basic American right. "Well the Second Amendment to the Bill of Rights guarantees us the right to defend ourselves, and we're protecting the second amendment, you have a right to defend yourself.  And if you regulate weapons by taking them away from everyone, only the bad guys will have weapons.  You just have a fundamental right to defend yourself. "

Hair says more gun control laws are not the answer in preventing any future school shootings. "There's really not a law that you can put on the books outside of outright⁷ confiscation⁸ of weapons, which is ludicrous.

Our hearts go out to those poor parents who lost seven-year-old daughters and 13-year-old daughters.  But there's not one law on the books that would have taken the guns out of that man's hands, because he had never committed a crime.  There's nothing you could have done to prevent that with a law, like I said outside of outright confiscation."

President Bush has convened⁹ a meeting of leading experts at the White House next week to determine how best the federal government can help states and local governments improve school safety. 

1 enact   

vt.制定(法律)；上演，扮演

参考例句：

• The U.S. Congress has exclusive authority to enact federal legislation.美国国会是唯一有权颁布联邦法律的。
• For example,a country can enact laws and economic policies to attract foreign investment fairly quickly.例如一个国家可以很快颁布吸引外资的法令和经济政策。

2 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。

3 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。

4 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

5 dealers   

n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者

参考例句：

• There was fast bidding between private collectors and dealers. 私人收藏家和交易商急速竞相喊价。
• The police were corrupt and were operating in collusion with the drug dealers. 警察腐败，与那伙毒品贩子内外勾结。

6 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。

7 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

8 confiscation   

n. 没收, 充公, 征收

参考例句：

• Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. 没收一切流亡分子和叛乱分子的财产。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言
• Confiscation of smuggled property is part of the penalty for certain offences. 没收走私财产是对某些犯罪予以惩罚的一部分。

9 convened   

召开( convene的过去式 )； 召集； （为正式会议而）聚集； 集合

参考例句：

• The chairman convened the committee to put the issue to a vote. 主席召集委员们开会对这个问题进行表决。
• The governor convened his troops to put down the revolt. 总督召集他的部队去镇压叛乱。