经济学人 | 美国大规模枪击事件频发的背后

The two mass shootings within 24 hours of each other last weekend, one in El Paso, Texas, the other in Dayton, Ohio, were horrifying. Yet at the same time they were not surprising—at least in a purely statistical sense. So far this year America has averaged one shooting in which four or more people are killed or injured every single day.

上周末，美国在24小时内分别于德克萨斯州的埃尔帕索市和俄亥俄州的代顿市连续发生了两起骇人听闻的大规模枪击事件。然而，惊恐之余，两起枪击案并不让人感到意外，至少就统计学意义来看正是如此。今年到目前为止，美国平均每天会发生一起至四人或四人以上死亡或受伤的枪击事件。

But in a society where someone with murderous intent can wield only a kitchen knife or a baseball bat, the harm he can do is limited. When such a person has access to a semi-automatic weapon, which can hold 100 rounds of ammunition and discharge them in under a minute, it is grievous—and hence, lamentably, more seductive.

但是在一个只能挥舞着菜刀或棒球棒去实现杀人意图的国家里，歹徒所能造成的伤害是有限的。但当这样一个人持有了一件容量达100发子弹并能在一分钟内全部发射的半自动武器时，后果不堪设想——而可悲的是，持枪犯罪对歹徒更有诱惑力。

The answer is obvious: restrict the ownership of certain types of guns, as New Zealand did after the shootings in Christchurch, and introduce proper background checks.

解决办法显而易见：限制某些类型枪支的持有权（就像新西兰在克赖斯特彻奇枪击事件发生后所做的那样），并进行适当的背景调查。

Such measures will not prevent all gun deaths. The constitution will not be rewritten and too many weapons are in circulation. Yet given the number of fatalities, even a 5% reduction would save many innocent lives.

这些措施不足以防止所有枪杀事件的发生。宪法也不会被改写，而且如今又太多的武器流通在外了。但鉴于枪杀事件的死亡人数，即使能够减少5％的枪杀事件的发生也能挽救许多无辜的生命。

Mass shootings in America have become like deforestation in Brazil or air pollution in China—a man-made environmental hazard that is hard to stop. Such hazards are not cleaned up overnight. That should not prevent people from making a start.

美国的大规模枪击事件就如同巴西的森林砍伐或中国的空气污染这类人为环境危害一样，难以阻止。这种危害不是在一夜之间就能消除的，但这不应该阻止人们迈出第一步。