BRAZIL: Leader in Shooting Deaths Takes First Step Towards Gun Control

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 15 2003 (IPS) - Brazil, which has one of the highest murder rates in the world, has taken a big step towards reducing the number of firearms in the hands of civilians.

A bill regulating the purchase of guns and making it illegal to carry them in public is waiting to be signed into law by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, after receiving congressional approval last week.

The bill also paves the way for an October 2005 referendum in which voters will be asked if they believe sales of guns and ammunition should be banned altogether in Brazil, where around 40,000 people a year are killed in fatal shootings.

Under the new law, only members of the military, the police, and people with special permits like private security guards, transport companies, sports marksmen or hunters will be allowed to carry firearms.

Other civilians will be able to register their guns and keep them at home or in their businesses, but will not be allowed to carry them on their person.

Gun owners will have 90 days to register their weapons or hand them in to the police. After that, anyone found owning a gun without a permit could face up to four years in prison.

The bill – known as the ”Disarmament Statute” – also creates a national firearms registry, and stiffens the requirements for those wishing to purchase a gun, raising the minimum age from 21 to 25.

In addition, applicants for a gun permit must have no criminal record, will have to prove their need for a firearm, and will need to demonstrate psychological fitness and the ability to use a gun.

Small arms are a global problem. International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War estimates that light weapons kill 500,000 people a year, including 300,000 in armed conflicts, as well as 200,000 homicides, suicides and accidents.

Brazil has one of the highest gun-death rates in the world. Shooting deaths account for 62.7 percent of all murders committed in this country of 177 million, according to statistics published by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1999.

Experts believe firearms are responsible for an even higher proportion of violent deaths in Brazil today.

The anti-gun movement has fought for years to get Congress to pass a gun control law, which it finally did on Dec. 9, when the bill was approved by the Senate, after making it through the lower house.

The movement believes the proposed ban on gun sales is certain to be approved in the 2005 referendum, as public opinion runs high in favour of gun control measures.

Over the past few months, anti-gun protests have drawn tens of thousands of people onto the streets of Brazil’s main cities.

An opinion poll carried out in October by the Sensus Institute found that 74 percent of respondents were in favour of the ban, similar to the proportion found in earlier surveys.

Carrying a firearm in public without a permit will now be a criminal offence punishable by two to six years in prison, without the possibility of bail or parole. Shooting a gun in a populated area will be punishable by two to four years in prison, and the trafficking of guns by four to eight years, or 12 years if the case involves weapons used by the armed forces.

”This is a great stride forward, despite the imperfections of the new law,” said Antonio Rangel Bandeira, a sociologist who coordinates the anti-violence group Viva Río’s Arms Control Project.

He told IPS that he believed that Argentina’s anti-gun law, for instance, is better. One shortcoming of the Brazilian law, he said, is that it fails to provide a legal definition of the role played by the brokers involved in the trafficking of weapons and illegal arms sales, a question that is of particular concern to international bodies in favour of gun control.

Many arms-dealers are members of the military or ex-soldiers, said Rangel Bandeira.

The Disarmament Statute also faced heavy resistance in Congress, especially in the Chamber of Deputies, where the referendum proposal was jeopardised.

Although it is a compromise arrangement that postpones the ban on gun sales which the anti-firearms movement has been pushing for, Rangel Bandeira said the referendum option is ”positive” because it will prompt ”two years of discussion and debate on weapons and public safety,” generating public awareness and new measures.

The activist also said it amounts to an unusual practice of hands-on democracy in Brazil.

The creation of a registry that will allow ammunition to be traced back to its buyer and manufacturer also ran into resistance.

While Brazilians make up only three percent of the world population, this country accounts for 13 percent of crimes involving firearms, said Senator Renán Calheiros in his arguments in favour of the new gun control law, which he described as ”a first step” rather than a definitive solution to the scourge of violent crime.

Criminal violence has been reduced in countries that have adopted gun control measures, argued the senator, one of the leading sponsors of the new law.

But not everyone agrees that gun regulation is necessary. Carlos Murgel, the president of Forjas Taurus, the biggest manufacturer of small arms in Latin America, told IPS that a ban on firearms is negative ”because only decent, law-abiding people will be affected,” since criminals can always purchase guns on the black market.

In Brazil, sales of firearms to civilians are on the decline, while crime has been rising steadily, said Murgel.

Forjas Taurus sold nearly 52,000 guns in 1980, a year in which 10,000 deaths by firearms were reported. Twenty years later, the company sold just over 23,000 guns, while 40,000 shooting deaths were reported – ”an inversely proportionate evolution,” said Murgel.

Arms manufacturers also point out that the Disarmament Statute could lead to a loss of jobs in industry. Taurus employs 1,800 people and generates another 10,000 indirect jobs, according to the company.

But disarmament activists say the effect will be small, because most of the weapons produced in Brazil are either exported or used by the armed forces and police, markets that will not be affected by the new law.

Although Murgel said Forjas Taurus exports 60 percent of what it produces, he argued that the ban on sales to civilians in Brazil would hurt ”the company’s competitiveness abroad.”

The problem, he said, is that most of what the company exports goes to the United States, which sells Brazil only a small portion of the weapons it produces.

When the civilian market for arms disappears in Brazil, the United States will no longer be able to export guns to this country, and ”due to a question of reciprocity,” the U.S. arms industry could boycott purchases of firearms from Brazil, he explained.

Forjas Taurus would thus have a problem maintaining its exports to the United States, which currently total 35 million dollars a year, compared to just eight million dollars in sales to other foreign markets.

Retail stores that sell firearms will also feel the impact of the new law, but should be able to survive by diversifying their business, said Paulo da Cruz, manager of the Casa Santo Antonio, which has sold guns in downtown Duque de Caxias, a city on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, for 53 years.

Da Cruz told IPS that the Disarmament Statute ”won’t change a thing” for his store, since a local ban on weapon sales already went into effect in the state of Rio de Janeiro last year.

An increase in sales of sporting and fishing equipment, knives and other goods has compensated the lost business, he said. ***** + International Action Network on Small Arms (http://www.iansa.org) (END/IPS/LA/IP PR/TRA-SO SW/MO/DM/03)