VOA慢速英語:美國立法者再次嘗試阻止精神病患者握有槍支

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From VOA Learning English, this is As It Is. I'm Anna Matteo in Washington.

New legislation in the United States is aimed at keeping guns out of the handsof the severely mentally ill while helping them get the medical treatment theyneed.

Christopher Cruise has more on that story.

U.S. lawmakers are again talking about gun laws after two more deadly massshootings. In late May, a gunman killed six students on a college campus inSanta Barbara, California. And in early June a shooter in the state of Oregonreportedly shot and killed a student in a high school before shooting himself.

Since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December2012 where twenty-six young children, teachers and administrators werekilled, there have been seventy-four school shootings across the UnitedStates.

The U.S. Congress is again debating gun laws. But this time the debate isnarrower. It does not involve every issue related to gun control, which divideslegislation along party lines.

Lawmakers, both Democrat and Republican, are placing their attention on therelationship between gun violence and mental illness. Laws barring thementally ill from gun ownership already exist in the U.S.

Students console one another at the University of California Santa Barbara during a memorial service in honor of the victims of the shooting there on May 27, 2014.

The question is -- do they go far enough?

The gunman in the Santa Barbara shooting was ElliotRodger. Unlike other recent gunmen, the parents ofElliot Rodger warned police about the possible threatposed by his mental illness.

At a meeting on Capitol Hill, U.S. Representative TimMurphy says that all the recent mass shootings haveone thing in common -- the accused killers all sufferedfrom some sort of mental illness.

"All had untreated or under-treated serious mentalillness. All spiraled out of control within a system thatlacked the basic mechanisms to help."

Representative Murphy has introduced legislation that would make it easier forfamilies to have seriously ill relatives hospitalized against their will. Thecondition in the legislation is that they must also be found to be a threat tothemselves or the community.

A parent of a mentally ill child says he supports the bill. Edward Kelley sayshis severely mentally ill son refuses help and often has often ended up livingon the streets. He describes his son’s life. He describes it as a “descent intomadness.”

"Our resume as a family covers 15 years of dealing with our son descendinginto a madness that is just impossible to describe."

Emergency workers gather at the scene of a shooting involving Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona at a Safeway grocery store in Tucson, Arizon. (Jan 8, 2010)

Most experts agree there is not enough space in mental hospitals. Expertsalso agree that the seriously ill often end up in crowded emergency rooms orhomeless. D.J. Jaffe of the Mental Illness Policy Organization said the U.S.also needs to change its spending priorities.

"My one message is we have to stop ignoring the most seriously ill."

Democratic lawmakers are proposing a separate bill that would ban peoplewho have been involuntarily hospitalized from buying guns.

Former Representative Gabrielle Giffords survived a 2011 mass shooting in the area of Arizona that she represents.

(One of the 911 Emergency Calls for Arizona shooting.)

"911. Where is your emergency?"

"Near the Safeway (a store). There's some shots fired."

"Okay. We have reports of that. Deputies on our theirway. Thank you."

"Giffords has been hit."

While campaigning she was shot in the head by agunman who, according to medical experts, suffersfrom severe mental illness.

Ms. Giffords has become a powerful advocate.

Former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was seriously injured in the mass shooting that killed six people in Tucson, Arizona. She arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington for a hearing on gun laws.

“We must do something. It will be hard, but the time is now. You must act.”

Some lawmakers say they believe Republicans andDemocrats can agree, or find common ground, on theissue of guns and mental illness. Both parties say theywant to prevent future tragedies.

This story was written with reporting by VOACongressional Correspondent Cindy Saine reportingfrom Capitol Hill.

I’m Christopher Cruise.

I’m Anna Matteo.

What do you think about the debate involving guns and the mentally ill? Shareyour views in our comment section.