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The Yomiuri Shimbun
U.S. should discuss tighter gun controls in level-headed manner
米乱射テロ　銃規制へ冷静な議論を尽くせ

The latest shooting incident is a despicable act of terrorism strongly influenced by extremism and a sense of discrimination. It can never be condoned.
　過激思想や差別意識の影響が色濃い卑劣なテロと言えよう。断じて許されない。

A man fired an assault rifle inside a nightclub in Orlando, Fla., killing and wounding a large number of clubgoers and other people inside. It was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
　米フロリダ州オーランドのナイトクラブで、男が自動小銃を乱射し、店内にいた客ら多数が死傷した。米国史上最悪の銃撃事件である。

The man, a U.S. citizen and a son of Afghan immigrants, was shot to death in a gun battle with special police units. The gunman allegedly made calls to police from the scene, in which he pledged his loyalty to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) extremist group.
　男はアフガニスタン出身の両親を持つ米国人で、警察特殊部隊との銃撃戦の末、射殺された。現場から警察に自ら通報し、過激派組織「イスラム国」への忠誠を宣言していたという。

As Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting, started earlier this month, ISIL has called for terrorist attacks against the United States and Europe. An ISIL-affiliated media body claimed one of its militants had attacked a gay nightclub.
　今月、ラマダン（断食月）に入ったのを機に、「イスラム国」が欧米に対するテロを呼びかけていた。系列のメディアは、配下の戦闘員が「同性愛者向けのナイトクラブを攻撃した」と主張した。

It remains unknown whether ISIL did order the man to attack the nightclub, but it is highly likely that he was inspired by ISIL. The Federal Bureau of Investigation called the incident terrorism. The FBI must uncover the entire picture of the massacre quickly.
　犯行指示の有無は不明だが、男が「イスラム国」に感化されていた可能性は大きい。連邦捜査局（ＦＢＩ）はテロ事件と断定した。全容解明を急ぐべきだ。

Not to be overlooked is the fact that the man had been questioned several times since 2013 by law enforcement agencies as part of their investigations into terrorism and was on a watch list. Wasn’t there any way the authorities could have foreseen the attack and averted it? This must be verified.
　見過ごせないのは、男が２０１３年以降、テロ関連捜査で当局の事情聴取を数回受け、監視対象になっていたことだ。事前に犯行を察知し、回避する術すべはなかったのか。検証が必要だろう。

The man was said to have lawfully bought an automatic rifle, an extremely lethal weapon, about one week before the atrocity.
　男は殺傷能力が極めて高い自動小銃を約１週間前に合法的に購入し、蛮行に及んだとされる。

Aiming at ‘soft targets’

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe naturally condemned the terrorist action, saying, “Japan will continue to advance efforts to eradicate terrorism, together with the United States and the international community.”
　安倍首相が「日本は、米国や国際社会とテロを根絶する取り組みを進めていく」と述べ、事件を非難したのは当然である。

In the United States, a married couple inspired by ISIL committed acts of terrorism also in December last year, using an automatic rifle. According to some statistics, the number of deaths caused by firearms totals 30,000 annually.
　米国では昨年１２月にも、「イスラム国」に扇動された夫婦が自動小銃を使ったテロを起こしている。銃による死亡者は毎年３万人に上るという統計もある。

There seems to be no end to mass shootings aimed at “soft targets” — sites where large numbers of people gather, such as schools, churches and movie theaters.
　学校や教会、映画館など不特定多数が集まる「ソフトターゲット」を狙った乱射事件が後を絶たない。

If the situation is left unchanged, in which people can easily obtain weapons normally used by the military, the damage from terrorist incidents will only spread.
軍で使用されるような本格的な武器が手軽に購入できる現状を放置していては、テロ被害が拡大するだけではないか。

The Obama administration is calling for stricter gun controls. Yet due to opposition from the Republican-dominated Congress, such legislation has not been realized.
　オバマ政権は、銃規制強化を目指している。だが、共和党が多数を占める議会の反対で法制化されていない。

Priority should be placed on making it mandatory for those who purchase weapons on the Internet and elsewhere to be identified at the time of purchase, and on limiting the buying and selling of highly lethal weapons.
インターネットなどで銃を購入する際の身元確認の義務化や、殺傷能力の高い銃の売買制限が優先すべき課題だ。

The latest shooting incident occurred at a place where gay people gather. There are witness accounts that the attacker hated these people. It is significant that Obama said in a statement, “This was an attack on all of us,” and called for people to unite against such actions.
　犯行現場は同性愛者が集う場所で、男がこうした人々を憎悪していたという証言がある。オバマ大統領が緊急声明で「我々全員に対する攻撃だ」と強調し、国民の結束を呼びかけた意義は大きい。

With the presidential and congressional elections scheduled for November, measures to fight terrorism, responses to Islamic extremism and concrete gun control steps should be discussed in a level-headed manner.
　１１月の大統領・議会選に向け、テロ対策や、イスラム過激主義への対応、具体的な銃規制策などを冷静に議論せねばなるまい。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, June 14, 2016)