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BRAZIL: Gun Ban Referendum Stirs Up Opposing Views

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Sep 20 2005 (IPS) - Brazil appears set to become the first country in the world to ban the sale of firearms as the result of a referendum, as part of a campaign to combat the alarming rise in gun-related deaths over the last two decades.

The latest poll conducted by the National Transportation Confederation showed that 72.7 percent of respondents will vote in favour of prohibiting the sale of guns and ammunition nationwide in the Oct. 23 referendum, while only 24 percent plan to vote against the measure.

The campaign being waged by the Front for a Gun-Free Brazil to convince voters to support the ban was given a boost by a report released earlier this month by the Brazilian Ministry of Health.

According to the report, the number of gun-related deaths in Brazil dropped for the first time in 12 years in 2004, when 36,091 people were killed by firearms, 3,234 fewer than in 2003.

The Brazilian authorities maintain that this 8.2 percent reduction is largely the result of a disarmament scheme that began to be implemented in July of last year, through which firearms are purchased from the public in order to be destroyed.

Over 450,000 guns have been turned in so far, and it is hoped that the total number collected will reach half a million by the deadline set for the programme, Oct. 23, the same day as the referendum.

Despite last year’s decline, the annual number of gun-related deaths has more than doubled since 1992, when 16,729 cases were recorded. This astronomic rise in gun-related violence has led many to refer to the problem as an epidemic. Most of the victims are between the ages of 15 and 24.

This critical situation led the Brazilian Congress to pass a new law on disarmament in December 2003.

The law prohibits civilians from carrying firearms in public, limiting this right to the armed forces, police and security guards. It additionally places tight restrictions on gun ownership and requires all firearms and ammunition manufactured in Brazil to be marked for identification.

The law also established a ban on the sale of firearms and ammunition throughout the country, although this measure is subject to ratification through a referendum. With just over a month to go before the referendum is held, it appears almost certain that Brazilian voters will back the prohibition.

Earlier surveys had indicated that close to 80 percent of respondents supported the ban, which “reflects the general public’s view that guns pose an enormous risk,” said Josephine Bourgeois, a researcher with Viva Rio, a non-governmental organisation at the forefront of the disarmament movement.

A well-informed public is bound to support disarmament and a ban on gun sales, Bourgeois, a French researcher who has lived in Brazil for many years, said in an interview with IPS.

In Australia, a strict gun control law was passed in 1996, followed by a disarmament programme through which 643,726 firearms were handed over to the authorities. Five years later, the homicide rate had fallen 50 percent overall and 57 percent among women specifically, she noted.

Much the same happened in Canada after stricter gun control measures were adopted, and Bourgeois believes that a ban on firearms sales will have a similar effect in Brazil.

The number of gun-related deaths in Brazil is incomparably higher than it ever was in the other countries used as points of reference, however. In 2002, there were 22 people killed with firearms for every 100,000 inhabitants in Brazil, while the ratio in Australia was a mere 0.24 per 100,000.

The run-up to the referendum will enter a final, decisive phase on Oct. 1, with the launch of official campaigns by two opposing blocs of lawmakers: one promoting a gun-free Brazil, and the other defending “the right to legitimate self-defence”. Both will be allotted nine minutes a day of free broadcasting time on national public radio and television to air their views.

Leonardo Arruda, the public relations director of the National Association of Firearm Owners and Dealers (ANPCA), told IPS that the question posed by the referendum – “Should the commerce in guns and ammunition be prohibited in the country?” – will predispose voters to answer “yes”.

He believes it would be fairer to refer to “legal commerce”, or to use the word “sale” instead of commerce, which he said has negative connotations.

He also maintained that Brazil is already an “unarmed country”, because only five percent of households own firearms, compared to 52 percent in the United States, 35 percent in Switzerland, and 20 percent in Argentina, according to his organisation’s figures.

“It’s not guns that cause violence, it’s impunity,” he stated.

“If you want to kill someone, you’ll do it one way or another,” he said, noting that while the number of people killed with firearms decreased in 2004, deaths caused by other weapons actually increased.

He also predicted a rise in other types of crime, like home burglaries and muggings, because criminals will be encouraged by the knowledge that the country’s civilians are unarmed. “Taking weapons away from the victims is the worst possible solution,” he maintained.

Nevertheless, Arruda admits that his side’s loss in the referendum is practically a foregone conclusion.

The legal firearms trade has already experienced a sharp decline, as the number of shops selling guns and ammunition has fallen from 1,200 in 1997 to only 300 today. The reason for this is that many store owners decided to act before the ban took effect and have moved into other lines of business, he said.

According to Arruda, “powerful international forces” that control global finances, including the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, are behind the efforts to “disarm the peoples” in order to dominate them.

For his part, Wagner Vasconcelos, director of the Movement for the Promotion of the Culture, Language and Wealth of Brazil and an opponent of the gun sales ban, said that disarmament is promoted by non-governmental organisations funded by foreign capital from sources like the Ford Foundation and international financier George Soros.

His group has put up posters throughout Rio de Janeiro reading, “Turn in Your Gun and Turn into a Slave”.

Vasconcelos, a law student, stressed that there are more children who die of hunger and preventable diseases than people killed by guns. He added that 96 percent of firearms in Brazil are not registered, and it is these illegal weapons that are used in practically all of the homicides committed.

In his view, the disarmament campaign is not aimed at curbing violence, but rather at “obstructing the strengthening of the Brazilian nation.” It is backed by a secret group of around 300 powerful families from various countries bent on establishing a worldwide “private dictatorship,” he declared.