Primary schools, cinema halls, campuses and churches – no place, it seems, is immune to America’s epidemic of mass shootings. Yet none so far have prompted Washington to adopt even the most minor of new gun controls. If Friday’s unimaginably distressing classroom slaughter of 20 young children and six teachers does not jolt Washington to act, nothing will. Like Columbine before it, and so many other school shootings, the name Sandy Hook will be forever associated with a horror no society should tolerate. It should also be the starting point of an era of genuine gun control in the US.
小學(xué)、影院大廳、大學(xué)校園以及教堂，看起來美國似乎沒有地方能免遭大規(guī)模槍擊事件這一惡疾的危害。然而迄今所有這些槍擊事件，都沒能促使美國政府采取哪怕是最溫和的槍支管制新政策。如果上周五20名年幼的兒童和6位教師在教室被屠殺這一難以想象的慘劇，都無法觸動(dòng)美國政府采取措施，那就沒什么事能做到了。與之前發(fā)生的科倫拜(Columbine)事件及其他校園槍擊案類似，桑迪?胡克(Sandy Hook)小學(xué)將永遠(yuǎn)與任何社會(huì)都無法容忍的恐怖聯(lián)系在一起。它也應(yīng)當(dāng)成為美國真正的槍支管制時(shí)代的開端。