每日英語跟讀 Ep.957: How American Guns Are Fueling U.K. Crime 美國黑槍 推高英國犯罪率

Josh Bains was 28 when he was killed after an argument over a drug debt of about $50 just a few miles from the English village where he grew up — with a gun that had traveled thousands of miles from America.

貝恩斯因為欠下約50美元買毒債與人起爭執後遇害，年僅28歲，遇害處離他成長的英格蘭村落只有幾哩，奪命的槍枝卻遠從數千哩外的美國而來。

His was one of a rising number of gun deaths in recent years that have British authorities worried about an expanding smuggling pipeline from the United States. The gun used to kill Bains in October 2018 — a Taurus Model 85 — is banned outright in Britain.

英國近年來像貝恩斯這樣的槍擊案死者愈來愈多，令當局對英美之間走私網日漸擴大感到憂慮。2018年10月用來殺害貝恩斯的這支金牛座M85左輪手槍，在英國完全禁用。

“I think Americans wouldn’t believe that something that they produce could affect people like us,” said Clare Bains, who was Bains’ stepmother. “If there weren’t all these guns, they wouldn’t be seeping out of America all over the world.”

貝恩斯的繼母克萊兒說：「美國人不會相信，他們製造的東西竟會影響到我們這樣的人。要是沒有這麼多槍，就不會流出美國，跑到世界各地。」

Gun deaths remain extremely rare in Britain, and very few people, even police officers, carry firearms. But the growing presence of U.S. weapons on the streets, which has not previously been widely reported, comes as serious violent crime, like murders and stabbings, has risen sharply.

英國死於槍擊案者極少，而且少有人攜帶槍械，包括警察，不過美國武器在英國街頭愈來愈常見，這種現象先前未獲廣泛報導，同時，謀殺和持刀傷人等嚴重暴力罪案亦遽增。

Most illegal firearms in Britain still come from Europe. But investigators seized hundreds of smuggled U.S. guns last year, a small figure by international standards, though experts say the number that police do not discover is likely to be far higher.

英國非法槍枝多數仍來自歐陸，不過去年調查人員查扣數以百計走私入境的美國槍枝，以國際標準而言算少，但專家指出未查獲的可能遠多於此。

British police have traced some of the smuggled U.S. guns back to loosely regulated gun fairs in states like Florida. Investigators have also seized U.S. weapons being smuggled on a container ship and hidden in car engines.

英國警方查出，走私的美國槍枝部分來自佛州等地管理鬆散的槍械展，調查人員還沒收了藉貨櫃船走私和藏在汽車引擎中的美國武器。

Now authorities fear that after Brexit, when borders with the European Union will be more tightly regulated, the illegal gun trade from the United States could accelerate, especially given the Trump administration’s broad support for the gun industry.

現在英國當局擔心，英國脫離歐盟導致英歐邊界管制收緊之後，來自美國的私槍會大增，在川普政府力挺槍枝產業的背景下，尤其如此。

“A major Trump administration goal is to globalize the firearms trade and facilitate exports, and if you’re facilitating legal exports, it’s almost inevitable that there will be an illegal diversion of weapons into criminal markets in other countries,” said Aaron Karp, a senior consultant for the Small Arms Survey in Geneva and a lecturer at Old Dominion University in Virginia.

瑞士日內瓦「小型武器調查」研究計畫高級顧問、美國維吉尼亞州老道明大學講師卡普說：「川普政府一大目標是，使槍枝貿易全球化並促進槍枝出口，而如果美國推動合法槍枝出口，難免會有部分非法武器流入他國的犯罪市場。」

The United States is one of the biggest legal exporters of firearms in the world, but hundreds of thousands of guns also illegally leak out of the country and fuel homicides, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean.

美國是最大合法槍枝出口國之一，卻有數以十萬計槍枝非法流出並助長殺人案，尤其在拉丁美洲和加勒比海地區。

In Britain, criminal groups primarily use knives for acts of violence. Knife crime reached a record high last year, accounting for around 2 out of every 5 killings. By comparison, only 33 people were killed with a gun.

在英國，犯罪團體主要持刀行凶，去年持刀所犯刑案創新高，約占殺人案五分之二，相較之下，只有33人死於槍擊。

But the number of illegal guns in circulation is growing. In the last year alone, gun seizures by Britain’s national policing body, the National Crime Agency, more than doubled, and firearm offenses have soared by 38% since 2015.

然而，流通的非法槍枝不斷增加。單是這一年來，英國國家治安機關「國家刑事局」查扣的槍枝就比先前多出一倍以上，而且從2015年以來，槍枝犯罪激增了38%。

Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/356788/web/