Ancillary 10

Valentina Korte

There are two types of firearms: (within your house) vs Carrying (on the streets) . I believe that this was mainly introduced because of how dangerous the isolated country areas can be as well as the increasing crime rates and safety issues faced in Brazil.

• A new law ‘Estado de Desarmamento’ by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was put into effect in 2003, where buying firearms became significantly more rigid in Brazil. This law included:
• It prohibits the possessionPossession of weapons by civilians, except for cases where there is a proven need. There is a long investigation process done by the Federal Police (usually only individuals that live in isolated rural areas are permitted to protect themselves)
• Citizens can only keep firearms within their houses, to protect themselves, they cannot take it with them in the streets.
• Their firearms can be taken away at any time
• The tax on it increased
• 21 became the new minimal age
• They would need to complete a psychology test
• 63.94% of the population in 2003 voted that they did not want the commerce of firearms and ammunition to be banned in Brazil. However, the government still insisted on introducing protection steps.

• Firearms on the streets were only permitted for police, security agents and prosecutors, otherwise it was illegal.
• Overall guns in Brazil have been relatively restrictive. In 2003 since homicides were increasing significantly for years, the country had to put new laws in place. They had to firstly make it harder for those with bad intentions to have access to guns.
• For example, it permitted ownership but set a minimum age for gun possession at 25 and included mandatory background checks and requirements to renew licenses every five years (many claim it was never really re-enforced)

Personally, I believe that this law, placed in 2003, was very important and overall positive. If Brazil made guns illegal for protection, citizens would simply buy illegal ones. Buying illegal ones would mean that we would directly be feeding into the corrupt mafia which would only lead into a vicious path. Therefore, once this was implemented homicides did fluctuate but overall decreased (at least they did not increase) until 2008 which was when the financial crisis hit again.

• Bolsonaro 2021 ‘Decreto pró-Armas’ a decreto does not have the legal nature of a law, but is issued by a competent authority through the courts.
• More about Bolsonaro: he is a retired military officer who has been the 38th president of Brazil since 2019. He was elected in 2018 as a member of the conservative Social Liberal Party before cutting ties with it. He graduated from the Agulhas Negras Military Academy and served in the Brazilian Army’s field artillery and parachutist units. He was driven to create impact in the country. He was congressman for 27 years and strongly supported national conservatism. He was elected with 55.1% of the popular vote. He placed many army officers in key positions in his cabinet
• What did his ‘Decreto pró-Armas’ indicate:
• Now police, security, agents, prosecutors, politicians (who have elective mandates), journalists, traffic agents, cargo vehicle drivers, rural landowners and even tutelary councilors have the right to carry weapons with them.
• Overall, he libreatted firearms for more than 19 million people (that can legally carry them on the streets).
• Specialists all confirmed that the measure is unconstitutional however it still passed, but a lot of people were completely revolted.
• He facilitated the access of firearms in houses for anyone that passed basic requirements, had the minimum age of 21, with no criminal record.
• The major problem was that since the mandate was put into place people no longer need to complete a physiological test or attend gun management courses, which can lead to serious disasters.
• 64% of the population according to Datafolha was against the flexibility of firearm access.
• He also wanted to provide insurance for all police officers, so if they assassinate someone, he cannot be accused, even in cases of suspected abuse.
• Jair Bolsonaro now is letting each citizen with a license to port guns can have up to six guns and two thousand ammunitions per year.
• The technical training certificate that was required until now, which is the responsibility of the authorities, is also replaced by a declaration of a “shooting club” where you practice “usually”. Those who are a part of the “shooting club” can buy up to 60 firearms per year, without the authorization form the army.
• It allows for citizens to possess a fuzil T4 (very strong firearm), which before only the military had access to. Making it shot against shot, equal powers.
• Additionally, he also raised the power of the arms to 1.60 joules, which is four times the established amount priorly.
• This whole thing has been put into motion since April 2021

Every scientific evidence that has been currently conducted says that less firearms results in less blood.

In my opinion everything in which Bolsonaro did is absolutely catastrophic. The country is obviously going through a rough patch, in which the economy is unstable and the

Why should they let civilians have guns in their household?

When civilians have guns in their household, it firstly scares off burglars from breaking into the houses, because most of the time in Brazil those that are robbing just need money to feed their kids or buy medications, they don’t want to cause fights or get hurt. So I do believe that it would highly decrease the amount of home invasion and homicides. In the rural areas of Brazil, a lot of people go to steal the cows and goods from the farm, since there are no police, no protection at all, so historically they have always had guns to protect themselves. Also Brazil is known for the homozides and how unsafe it is, so if there are guns available maybe crime rates would decrease, because robbers would be too scared. Also by making it easier for people to have access to guns, many claim that would decrease the mafia in Brazil because they would be legal, which would force many gangs to stop.

Data to prove this:

• In 2020 in Brazil 50,030 people were reportedly murdered, making the homicide rate 23.6 pwe 100,000.
• It is the country with the highest number of international homicides in the world.
• In Rio Grande do Norte there is the country’s highest murder eate (68 per 100,000 people)

the third highest in the world, according to World Prison Brief

The number of people in Brazil’s prisons per 100,000 of the population was 353 in 2016, up from 137 in 2000

Why are there so many murderers:

The lucrative drugs trade is a major factor. Rival cartels fight for control of the routes that transport cocaine arriving from Colombia, Bolivia and Peru.

But opportunities are still very limited for young people and many young people drop out of school at around 15

Ms Astolfi. → Crime is a choice on the table for young males in the peripheries of cities,”

widespread phenomenon of violence of all types

Brazilian colonisation was very violent, leading to a violent culture.

Historically speaking, violence, not the rule of law, was the way to go

the rise in crime may come as no surprise, as Brazil has one of the highest income inequalities in the region

Why is it so hard to stop violence in Brazil:

On the other hand, a lot of people would claim that the number of deaths would increase, there are studies which prove that no matter what more blood will be spilled. This means that more police officers, robbers, victims will be killed and at the end of the day they are all citizens. However, a lot of the crime also happens on the streets and roads, so that itself would be hard to tackle, because all the crime that would happen in houses would now be happening in stores and on the streets.

Allowing a brother range of professions to carry guns could also insure their safety. The problem becomes that more guns will be circulating the streets, which can never be good.

• Overall, i think that for those who live in rural areas having a gun is very beenficial and important, as their safety and business severly depends on it.

Studies from the U.S. and around the world consistently show increases in firearm ownership and carrying are positively correlated with increases in homicide and suicide.

In Brazil, a 1 percent rise in firearm availability increases the homicide rate by 2 percent. Brazilian households with firearms had at 44 percent higher risk of homicide than those without.

What is more, there is virtually no evidence to support the idea that expanding access to firearms increases individual safety and security.

In December 2017, a Datafolha surveyfound that over 61 percent of Brazilians said that gun ownership should be prohibited. Surprisingly, 59 percent of the respondents who also supported then-candidate Bolsonaro opposed proposals designed to make firearms more accessible.

In Brazil, a 2006 estimate put the costs of medical bills and lost productivity due to firearm deaths at $10 billion, nearly 1 percent of the country’s gross domestic product that year

the Brazilian government in 2018 determined that the economic burden of violence was potentially dramatically higher: $77 billion per year, more than 4 percent of GDP.

Two years into Bolsonaro’s term, the relaxation of Brazil’s gun laws has led to a 65% increase in firearms ownership. While there were about 700,000 firearms in legal private ownership in 2018, hunters, collectors and citizens who want to defend themselves now own 1.2 million weapons. This data was obtained from the federal police and the military as part of research conducted by the Brazilian daily newspaper O Globo.

QUOTES

Japa study case:

As of 2011, legal gun ownership stood at 271,000, according to police records, in a country of 127 million people.

There were six reported gun deaths in Japan in 2014, according to the National Police Agency.

Before they can even lay hands on a shotgun for hunting and sport shooting, prospective owners must attend classes and pass written and practical exams. They must then undergo psychological assessments to determine they are fit to own a firearm. Police background checks are exhaustive and even extend to the gun owners’ relatives

Guns quickly became the weapon of choice for feuding warlords after Portuguese traders introduced them to the country’s south-west in the early 1500s. Over time, Japan improved the design and performance of firearms and began mass producing them.

The beginning of the end of widespread gun ownership came when the feudal warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537–1598) unified Japan, then disarmed the peasant population by banning civilians from owning swords and firearms in 1588.

have to attend an all-day class, take a written exam and pass a shooting-range test with a mark of at least 95%

There are also mental health and drugs tests. Your criminal record is checked and police look for links to extremist groups. Then they check your relatives too — and even your work colleagues. And as well as having the power to deny gun licences, police also have sweeping powers to search and seize weapons.

Handguns are banned outright. Only shotguns and air rifles are allowed.

Police must be notified where the gun and the ammunition are stored — and they must be stored separately under lock and key. Police will also inspect guns once a year. And after three years your licence runs out, at which point you have to attend the course and pass the tests again.

→ I think those, or at least some of those need to be implemented. Over the years, it will slowly start to decrease the number of murderers,

UN for getting rid of the existing guns

Many countries have implemented voluntary programs encouraging citizens to surrender weapons in exchange for cash, household goods or other benefits to individuals.

https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/small-arms-no-single-solution