Weapon Possession And Purchase Now Stricter And More Restrictive

A New Disarmament Statute was approved by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as of Decree 11,615, of July 21, 2023. and buying weapons. This position is in line with the opinions of specialists and the majority of the Brazilian population: according to a survey carried out by DataFolha, in 2022, about 70% disagree with the idea that “it is necessary to facilitate access for people to guns”.

On the other hand, the opposition that defends civilian armament, known as “Bancada da Bullet”, reacted by drafting a Legislative Decree Project with more than 50 signatures in favor of overthrowing the new statute. The parliamentarians allege an “extrapolation of regulatory power” and criticize the transfer of inspection responsibility to the Federal Police.

Flexibilization

Maurício Stegemann Dieter, professor at the Department of Criminal Law, Forensic Medicine and Criminology at the USP Faculty of Law, clarifies that greater flexibility in terms of weaponry is much more an agenda of specific political groups than of civil society. Unlike the arms tradition in the United States, present even in the written Constitution of the country as a fundamental right, Brazil has experienced a growing presence of this issue in party struggles.

The economic interests of arms dealers also comprise another reason for supporting the easing of arms legislation, as shooting clubs and arms trading experienced a period of expansion, especially in the last government. “There is the lobby of people who are making money thanks to the previous regulation. So, shooting clubs, the purchase of ammunition and the sale of weapons have grown exponentially among private individuals and now people who are profiting will have their businesses limited, they will apply monetary political pressure”, analyzes the professor.


Furthermore, from a sociological point of view, Felipe Ramos Garcia, a researcher at the Center for the Study of Violence at USP (NEV-USP), explains that the discourse against disarmament is based on the idea of ​​individual freedom. The supposed right of self-defense is also used as a justification for the defense of weapons, as the country has worrying numbers related to violence.

On the other hand, Dieter points out that the individualist prerogative is not limited to just an individual right of the citizen, but necessarily represents a danger to the alien body. Based on this scenario, regulation based on the public interest and not on the sum of private interests is essential.

Increased regulation
The current government’s action does not go beyond regulatory power, but returns to previous rational policies. “They need to take back control of an activity that has seen such irresponsible expansion over the past five years that needs to be contained,” stresses Dieter.

Even with the greater permissiveness granted by the old statute, Garcia points out that research already shows that weapons and, above all, the armed civilian population will not reverse the security situation or reduce violent cases in Brazil. For example, the rise in cases of femicides was caused mainly by firearms, since, according to the researcher, these crimes have a strong relationship with the relaxation of gun regulations.

Another important aspect raised by Garcia is how facilitating access to weapons also becomes an alternative for the acquisition of these products by organized crime. The increase in registrations of CACs (Collector, Sports Shooter and Hunter) from 117.5 thousand in 2018 to 783.4 million in 2022, according to data from the Brazilian Yearbook of Public Security, together with the high limit of weapons per registration, enabled illicit destinations.

Prospects
“In recent years, the issue of access to firearms has been recurrent and an emblematic agenda of the previous government due to the significant number of parliamentarians who defend the idea”, highlights the researcher. However, even with the great presence of disputes and political arrangements on the subject, the expectation of civil society and the academic community is that the government will be able to institute a broader public security policy with due regulation.

Dieter draws attention to the intense inspection that will be necessary for actual compliance with the rules signed by the New Disarmament Statute, bearing in mind that there has been a reduction in the limit of weapons per person from 30 to 16. In addition, there is the possibility of clandestinity of the weapons of these individuals who had their rights extended and which are now being revoked. Thus, this decrease tends to produce an illicit market and to produce a concealment of these weapons, according to the professor.