Canada
加拿大
Zapped
脸红心跳
Jul 31st 2008 | OTTAWA
From The Economist print edition
Do electronic stun guns take more lives than they save?
同拯救的生命相比，电击枪所夺取的生命更多吗？
WHEN an electronic gun designed to immobilise but not kill emerged from the pages of science fiction and went into manufacture a decade ago, police forces around the world snapped it up. Instead of shooting suspected criminals who posed a threat, they could now zap them with 50,000 volts of electricity and have them safely in handcuffs before they recovered enough to resist or flee.
十年前，当科幻小说中出现了一种用来制服对方而非杀死对方的电击枪并开始进行生产时，世界各地的警方便纷纷抢购.现在，警察可用5万伏特的电击枪来制服构成威胁的犯罪嫌疑人，使其在完全恢复过来反抗或逃离之前安全地戴上手铐被抓，而不是将其射杀。
But are stun guns really non-lethal? Canadians have been wondering since a Polish immigrant died last October at Vancouver airport after police subdued him with a Taser, the most popular brand of the electronic weapon. An amateur video of the incident posted on YouTube sparked a public debate, and several official inquiries. On July 22nd a 17-year old youth in Winnipeg became the 21st person to die in Canada after being fired at with a Taser.
但是电击枪真的非致命吗？自一名波兰移民于去年10月在温哥华机场被警察以泰瑟枪制服（一款最受欢迎的电子武器品牌）并死亡后，加拿大人就在一直怀疑。张贴在YouTube上的一则业余视频更是引发了公众辩论和几次官方调查。在7月22日，温尼伯一位17岁的青年成为加拿大国内因被泰瑟枪击中后死亡的第 21位受害者。
The gun’s American manufacturer, Taser International, has sold 300,000 of them to police forces in 45 countries. It contends that just because someone dies after receiving a jolt, it does not necessarily follow that the Taser was to blame. It says-and some doctors agree-that pre-existing heart conditions, drug and alcohol abuse, and the agitation of having been pursued are all more likely causes of deaths in police custody. Tom Smith, Taser’s chairman, told a committee of Canada’s Parliament earlier this year that although 50,000 volts sounds like a lot, a static charge from a doorknob is almost as high.
泰瑟枪的美国制造商Taser国际公司已向45个国家的军方售出30万支。该公司声称，只是因为有人在受到震惊后而死，这并不能表示Taser公司应当对此负有责任。据说–有些医生也认同–在警察的拘捕过程中，先前存有心脏病，吸毒和酗酒，以及正被抓捕时的焦虑都极可能是死亡诱因。Taser国际公司的董事长汤姆• 史密斯在今年早些时候告知加拿大议会中的一个委员会，虽然50000伏特的电力听起来好像很多，但是门把手上的静电就几乎具备同样多的电力。
Such arguments have proved persuasive with juries. Taser International has won or had dismissed 71 lawsuits for wrongful death or injury. Most of these cases were in the United States, where just over 300 deaths following Taser use have been recorded. (The company suffered a rare courtroom loss earlier this year when a Californian jury ordered it to pay $6.2m to the parents of a man who died after being shocked. It is appealing.) A company spokesman points out that no medical examiner in Canada has pointed to the Taser as a contributing factor in any deaths.
以上论点已证明能够令陪审团信服。Taser国际公司因非正常死亡负责或误伤等理由已在71件诉讼案中胜出或给予驳回。这些案件大部分是发生在美国。在美国，已被记录在案因使用泰瑟枪而致死的人数刚刚超过300名。（在美国加州陪审团判决向一名中泰瑟枪后死亡的男子父母支付620万美元时，Taser国际公司便于今年早些时候罕见地在法庭审判中败诉。该公司正在上诉。）一位公司发言人指出，在加拿大，根本没有法医表明泰瑟枪是任一死亡事件的一个诱因。
Yet doubts persist. In June the parliamentary committee urged the federal government to commission independent studies. Amnesty International, a human-rights group, wants a temporary ban on Taser use until the research is complete. None of the official reviews backs that, but they call for tighter rules on the use of Tasers and better training for officers who handle them. The Saskatchewan Police Commission has reversed a plan to deploy more Tasers and is restricting their use to specialised teams. By limiting the use of conventional guns by police the stun guns may indeed save lives. But Canadians do not like their police to be trigger-happy, even with “non-lethal” weaponry.
然而，疑虑仍在持续。在6月，议会委员会敦促联邦政府委托独立研究机构调查。人权组织国际特赦要求在研究尚未完成之前，暂时禁止使用泰瑟枪。不过，官方评论并不支持以上做法，但正呼吁对使用泰瑟枪制定更为严格的法令和对持有电击枪的人员进行更好的培训。萨斯喀彻温省的警察委员会已修改了关于配置更多泰瑟枪的方案，并正在限制专门的小组使用。通过限制警方使用电击枪确实可能会拯救生命。不过，加拿大人不喜欢他们的警察动辄开枪，即便是”非致命”的武器也不例外。
译者：captain21 http://www.ecocn.org/forum/viewthread.php?tid=13119&extra=page%3D1