CET4

美国的枪支持有和管制

在美国，只要你达到了法定的年龄，取得枪支许可证且没有犯罪前科，就可以合法拥有枪支。美国人使用枪大致与中国人使用刀相似，美国人使用枪支的普遍性令所有中国人听起来咂舌，美国人用枪来捍卫自己的安全与自由，大致上枪会给人一种安全感。伴随着枪支的普遍使用情况的出现，美国的校园枪击案，枪支滥用引发的误杀，抢劫等犯罪层出不穷。轰动一时的案件有日本留学生被美国人开枪误杀，案件中的被告只被判很轻的罪，美国人也习惯了这种情况，因为这就是美国，一旦你闯入了别人领地，警告不听后，美国人有权用枪来捍卫自己的安全。这让很多的日本人不满，集体抗议，差点引发两国冲突，但是这就是美国与日本的不同，这名留学生仅仅是美国人为自由所付出的代价之一，殊不知有多少灵魂葬送在此。

The Second Amendment to the US Constitution says, "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." Gun owners, led by the National Rifle Association (NRA), interpret this to mean that the government has no business telling people how many and what kind of guns they can own. Over the years, the NRA has headed off most attempts to restrict gun ownership, insisting that the freedom to own guns is the peoples' only protection against oppressive government. "Guns don't kill people," they say. "People kill people."

True enough, but studies have shown that a gun kept in the home for "protection" is 22 times more likely to be used on a family member than an intruder. Following several student shootings, high schools across the country have begun to install metal detectors and to search students for weapons at the door. Though the murder rate has dropped in recent years, for a while shootings were so common in some cities that newspapers didn't bother to report all of them.

People often buy guns because they feel afraid they might become victims of a crime. According to John Donohue of Stanford University, however, "criminals are more likely to use a gun if prospective victims are carrying guns," creating a vicious cycle. With all these guns so easily available, is it any wonder that so many people are dying?

On the other hand, guns are legal and widely available next door in Canada. How many people are murdered with guns in Canada annually? About a hundred.

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