擁有槍支是權力，槍法好壞是訓練

個人擁有槍支在美國是受憲法保護的權力，隻要沒有犯罪記錄的人都能購買槍支，沒有眼神好壞槍法精準與否之類的要求。於是，長著扒拉眼的和長著千裏眼的都能買支槍來把玩。美國人買槍後的一大樂趣就是結伴打獵，同伴獵手裏混進個扒拉眼的槍手，那可真是夠嗆。

下麵的故事說的就是這麽一位:

LI man aims at duck, hits man, gets arrested

He meant to shoot the ducks. A Long Island man is facing charges including reckless endangerment and assault after he shot another hunter while out duck hunting on Saturday.

Nassau County authorities said the Brentwood man had his loaded shotgun pointed in the direction of the other man, then tried to raise the weapon to shoot some passing ducks.

The gun discharged, and the other hunter was hit in the arm.

這位來自紐約長島的獵手，星期六和朋友結伴去打獵。他瞄準的是野鴨，打中的確是同伴。你說他的眼睛不是一雙斜八字是什麽? 

美國打野鴨時一般都用散彈槍，一次擊發射出若幹鐵彈，很容易傷人。

這長著一對斜八字又愛好打野鴨的還大有人在，他們的代表人物就是敬愛的錢尼副總統。快三年前了(06年二月)，錢副總統打野鴨時，一槍轟倒了老友。老友差點送命，但錢副總統的公共聲譽卻一轟衝天。當時的新聞是這樣的:

Dick Cheney's Hunting Accident

"Just before sunset Saturday, 78-year-old Austin [millionaire civil attorney] Harry Whittington pulled off 'a double': bringing down two quail with two successive blasts from his shotgun," Larry Elder and Sarah Coppola, wrote in the February 13, 2006, Austin American Statesman. "One of Whittington's hunting companions, Vice President Dick Cheney, wasn't as accurate."

"A few minutes later, Cheney accidentally shot Whittington, according to Pamela Willeford, the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland, who was hunting with the pair on the 50,000-acre Armstrong Ranch in South Texas ... [spraying] Whittington with birdshot across his face, shoulder and chest," Elder and Coppola wrote.

Whittington suffered a mild heart attack on Tuesday, February 14, 2006, "after a shotgun pellet in his chest traveled to his heart," according to doctors at Christus Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi-Memorial. "Whittington was immediately moved back to an intensive care unit and will be watched for a week to make sure more pellets do not move to other vital organs. He was reported in stable condition."

其實這一群人打的是quail，就是鵪鶉。但美國人在說法上有些糊塗，有的說是Vice President's Birdhunting Accident，也有叫它是Vice President's Duck Hunting Accident。

pulled off 'a double'--連開兩槍。這位做民事律師(civil attorney) 的百萬富翁槍法不錯，兩槍打下兩隻。但輪到偉大領袖錢副總統舉槍摟火時，一幕悲喜劇發生了。副總統擊出的散彈，鳥沒打著，但轟得律師朋友滿臉滿肩滿胸。傷痕累累，慘不忍睹。

一顆鐵彈還進了律師的血管向心髒遊走，若不是醫生及時搶救，可能就一命嗚呼了。

當時的政治環境是，伊戰陷入泥沼，廢了候賽因，但作為美國發動伊戰的理由--候賽因的大規模殺傷性武器，始終沒有找著。伊戰始作俑者的錢副總統麵臨巨大壓力，民眾和媒體齊聲質問，大規模殺傷性武器在哪兒?

錢副總統一槍轟了老友，媒體立刻發聲: 大規模殺傷性武器終於找著啦，就在錢尼自己手裏。

擁有槍支是個人的權力，這本身沒什麽錯。但槍法好壞是訓練問題，從以上兩例看，對缺乏訓練的人是否應該有所管治約束，不該讓他們任意使用槍支!  這就好比沒有駕照的不該駕駛汽車一樣。

副總統打獵傷人後，有媒體調侃說，錢尼打獵沒有許可證，正如美國進入伊拉克沒有許可證一樣。


附記:  當今的國際政治術語裏，有兩種最時髦的武器，他們的英文縮寫我們可以學一下。一個就是"大規
模殺傷性武器"，英文縮寫是WMD，全稱是Weapons of Mass Destruction；另一個是TMD，它的全稱有兩種，一種是Theater Missile Defense，即"區域導彈防禦"，另一種是Ta Ma De，它是中文的拚音，寫成漢字就是"他媽的"。看官別嫌我話粗，這不是我的發明，而是中國裁軍談判專家著名外交人士沙祖康的傑作，他是把美國的TMD和中國的TMD連在一起的第一人。