When societies have been faced with the kind of tragedies that come with stories like that of Aiden McCarthy, the toddler found wandering alone at Highland Park on July 4 after both his parents were shot dead, most have moved legislatively – and effectively – to prevent a repeat.
7月4日,刚学会走路的艾登·麦卡锡的父母双双被枪杀,他被发现时正独自在高地公园游荡。当社会面临着像艾登·麦卡锡这样的故事带来的悲剧时,大多数人已经在立法并使其生效上采取行动,防止类似事件再次发生。
Australia pushed through a gun buyback program after the 1996 massacre in Port Arthur, Tasmania.
澳大利亚在1996年塔斯马尼亚亚瑟港大规模枪击事件后推行了一项枪支回购计划。
Research from the University of Sydney shows the proportion of Australians who hold a gun license fell by 48% between 1997 and 2020.
悉尼大学的研究显示,在1997年至2020年间,持有枪支许可的澳大利亚人比例下降了48%。
New Zealand banned semiautomatic rifles less than a week after a far-right extremist killed 51 members of a mosque in 2019.
2019年,一名极右翼极端分子杀害了一座清真寺中的51名成员,不到一周后,新西兰禁止使用半自动步枪。
Canada tightened its gun laws after a 1989 mass shooting of 14 women at Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique.
1989年,蒙特利尔综合理工学校发生了14名女性被枪杀的事件,之后加拿大加强了枪支法律。
And while the U.S. last month did see passage of its first major gun safety legislation in a quarter century in response to the Uvalde school shooting, boosting so-called red flag laws and bolstering background checks for those under 21, it was the U.S.’s neighbor to the north that moved more radically.
上个月,作为对乌瓦尔德校园枪击案的回应,美国确实通过了25年以来的第一项重要枪支安全立法,推进了所谓的红旗法,并加强了对21岁以下儿童的背景调查,但只有美国北部的邻国采取了更激进的行动。
Within a week of Uvalde, Canada introduced new legislation to freeze buying, importing, and selling handguns.
在乌瓦尔德枪击事件发生后的一周内,加拿大出台了新的法律,冻结进口、购买、销售手枪。
“We need only look south of the border to know that if we do not take action, firmly and rapidly, it gets worse and worse and more difficult to counter,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.
加拿大总理贾斯汀·特鲁多说:“我们只需要看看边界以南就知道,如果我们不采取坚决而迅速的行动,情况会越来越糟,会越来越难以抗衡。”
South of the U.S. border, Mexico is awash in guns and violence.
在美国南部边境,墨西哥充斥着枪支和暴力。
Americans see images of daylight shootouts in public squares or quinceaneras – the kind of barbarity that can seem like a Hollywood production.
美国人会在公共广场或成人礼上看到白天枪战的画面——这种野蛮的场面看起来像是好莱坞电影。
But along the broad sidewalks outside the Benito Juárez elementary school in central Mexico City, one thing Fernando Rendon doesn’t worry about is a mass shooting inside his 8-year-old son’s classroom.
但在墨西哥城中心的贝尼托·华雷斯小学外的宽阔人行道上,费尔南多·伦登并不担心他8岁儿子的教室里会发生大规模枪击。
“It’s just not that easy to get a gun,” says the father, as families schlep backpacks festooned with cartoon characters at school dismissal and kids eat bright-pink strawberry popsicles on their walks home.
“要弄到一把枪并不那么容易,”这位父亲说。放学后,各家各户的孩子们都背着重重的印有卡通人物的书包,在回家的路上吃着亮粉色的草莓冰棍。
There have been three school shootings in Mexico since 2014.
自2014年以来,墨西哥已经发生了三起校园枪击案。
But the subsequent national conversation in Mexico after their recent school shootings, including one in 2020, has focused on the erosion of family values, mental health, and the corrupting nature of violent video games.
但在最近的校园枪击事件(包括2020年的一起)之后,墨西哥全国的讨论集中在了家庭价值观的侵蚀、心理健康的损害以及暴力电子游戏的堕落本质上。
Access to guns is rarely mentioned.
获得枪支的机会很少被提及。
That’s in part because it’s so hard to legally obtain one in the first place, leaving weapons to circulate mostly among criminals.
这在一定程度上是因为从一开始就很难合法获得枪支,导致这类武器主要是在犯罪分子之间流通。