Gun control, China is worth to be a teacher for America

Dear America, here's how other countries stop mass shootings

WRITTEN BY ANNALISA MERELLI  FEBRUARY 22, 2018

https://qz.com/1212809/compare-us-mass-shootings-and-gun-control-to-germany-china-russia-switzerland-and-australia/

Yesterday, Donald Trump met with a group of students, teachers, and parents to discuss last week’s school shooting massacre in Parkland, Florida and the uniquely American epidemic of school shootings. Referring to the shootings, Trump asked his guests, “Does anyone have any ideas for how to stop it?”

The White House’s selected guests suggested a variety of areas to troubleshoot: Mental illness, bullying, FBI negligence, gun-free zones (which the president has publicly blamed for attracting “maniacs”), censorship, partisanship, lack of relatedness, obsession with identity, lack of expert “consultants,” lack of safety training for students, and even the absence of armed, undercover police in schools. But as 18-year-old Parkland survivor Sam Zeif pointed out, one well-known idea has already been consistently proven to stop mass shootings: Stricter gun laws.

Research shows that countries with fewer guns have lower homicide rates. Even US states with fewer guns have fewer homicides; in a landmark 2002 study, analysis of data from 1988 to 1997 showed that states with “high” gun ownership had three times the rate of homicide than states with few guns. A decade later, a 2013 study found that every percentage point increase in gun ownership corresponded to a 0.9% higher risk of gun homicide. Countries and states that legally limit overall gun ownership simply have fewer gun deaths.

Of course, mass shootings do occur in other countries. Germany, China, Russia, Switzerland have all suffered mass shootings in recent years. Unlike the US legislature, German and Swiss lawmakers responded to massacres by changing the law to prevent such shootings from happening again.

• In Germany, automated and semi-automated firearms were banned in 2008 (with the exception of hunting and sport-shooting, which require permits), in response to the 2002 Erfurt massacre, when a 19-year-old killed 17 at school.
• In Switzerland, a country with similar attitudes toward gun ownership as the US, the law was changed in 2008 to require stricter ammunition storage after a man killed 14 and injured 14 more in a regional parliament in 2001.

China and Russia’s governments are also tightening the law on who may own guns, and what kinds of guns.

• China, which already has very strict gun laws but is experiencing a rise in gun ownership, has taken further steps, including outlawing hunting rifles, very common in rural areas.
• In Russia, licenses are needed to purchase guns, and amongst the requirements are medical certificates. To control unauthorized gun ownership, the government is discussing a law to punish doctors who issue inauthentic health reports to people applying for gun ownership.

The United States stands out among countries for the frequency with which its mass shootings occur. But last year, after the US witnessed its most fatal mass shooting in history at Las Vegas, the Trump administration made it easier—not harder—for people with mental illness to buy guns. (That decision rolled back Obama-era restrictions that had been passed in the wake of Sandy Hook.)

Back in 1996, it took only 12 days after a mass shooting for Australia to pass the National Firearms Agreement, which banned automatic and semi-automatic weapon for “personal defense.” The country created a temporary buyback program for guns that had become illegal. Stricter background checks were enforced. As Zeif pointed out yesterday, there have been no school shootings in Australia since.

As the televised meeting in the White House continued, thousands of other US teenagers walked out of their high schools, echoing his call for gun control.

Read next: A two-year timeline of FBI and police failures to stop the Parkland school shooter

看看人中國怎麽控槍！美媒終於忍不住說這話了！

京港台：2018-2-24 07:17| 來源：環球網 | 評論( 31 )條 

　　[環球時報-環球網報道 記者白雲怡]最近發生在美國佛羅裏達州的校園槍擊(專題)慘劇讓整個世界都唏噓不已，但讓美國本國民眾最不滿的是，盡管大規模槍擊慘劇一再上演，但美國政府卻始終沒有出台什麽真正有效的措施。尤其當禁槍在美國已經被和自由和所謂的公民權利等“政治正確”的概念緊密聯係在一起時，槍支管控也越來越成為了美國社會一個解不開的死結。

　　在21日舉行的一次會麵中，美國總統特朗普(專題)在白宮向數名學生、教師和家長代表詢問，“你們有誰對如何阻止這類事件有什麽想法嗎？”對於這個疑問，美國時下最火的新媒體之一Quartz 22日給他們支了這樣一個招——借鑒一下中國等其他國家。文章稱，中國有著非常嚴格的槍支管控法律，而且還在采取進一步措施，控製農村地區的獵槍擁有量。“研究表明，槍支擁有率越低的國家凶殺率也越低。”　　

 

 

　　在這篇題為“親愛的美國，這是其他國家怎樣阻止大規模槍擊案的”的文章中，Quartz這樣寫道：“白宮的特邀嘉賓們（對減少槍擊案）提出了許多需要解決的問題：精神疾病、校園欺淩、FBI的疏忽、無槍區、審查製度、黨派偏見、缺乏專家顧問、對學生安全培訓不到位，甚至是學校裏沒有帶槍的便衣警察…但正如一名18歲的幸存者紮伊夫提出的，一個眾所周知的想法已經被證明能夠阻止大規模槍擊案的發生，那就是更嚴格的槍支法。”

　　Quartz援引一項研究結果稱，槍支較少的國家也有著更低的凶殺率，即使在美國國內來看，槍支較少的州，凶殺案也較少。2002年發布的一項研究顯示，槍支擁有率高的州的凶殺率是擁有率低的州的三倍。而十年後2013年的一項研究則發現，槍支擁有率每上升一個百分點，槍擊殺人的風險就會增加0.9%。

　　在這篇文章的作者看來，大規模槍擊案也曾在其他國家發生過，但這些國家都汲取了教訓，對自己的槍支管控法律作出了改善，而這些值得美國借鑒的國家分別是：德國、瑞士、中國和俄羅斯。報道稱，中國和俄羅斯政府正在收緊有關槍支擁有和槍支類別的法律規定。“中國已經製定了非常嚴格的槍支法律，而麵對槍支擁有率上升的情況，中國也已采取進一步措施，其中包括取締在農村地區非常普遍的獵槍。”Quartz稱，而在俄羅斯，購買槍支則需要醫療證明等許可證。為了控製非法持有槍支，俄政府也正在討論一項法律，以懲罰那些向槍支持有申請者出具不真實的健康報告的醫生。

　　至於德國和瑞士，和美國立法機構不同，這兩個國家的法律製定者們在屠殺事件發生後都對相關法律進行了修改，以防止槍擊事件再次發生。在德國，2002年古騰堡中學槍擊案發生後，自動和半自動火器在2008年被禁止使用；而在曾對槍支擁有權持和美國類似態度的瑞士，在一場造成14日死亡的地區議會襲擊案發生後，相關法律也得到修改，對彈藥儲存的管製變得更為嚴格。

　　“在一眾國家中，美國大規模槍擊案的發生頻率顯得尤其突出”，Quartz寫道，然而，在去年拉斯維加斯發生曆史上最致命的一次槍擊事件後，美國政府卻反而讓精神疾病患者購買槍支更容易了。“而當白宮裏的會麵還在進行之時，數千名美國年輕人已走出校園，請求對槍支進行管控”。