Brazil: Jair Bolsonaro increasingly liberalizes access to arms
Lawmakers mimic a pistol as Jair Bolsonaro signs a decree facilitating access to weapons, May 7, 2019. AP - Eraldo Peres
Text by: Achim Lippold Follow
3 min
If Jair Bolsonaro continues to do the "minimum service" to stop the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic in Brazil, the far-right president is very active on other fronts.
Ten days ago, by decree, he made it even easier to buy a firearm.
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Facilitating the acquisition of weapons was one of the main electoral promises of candidate Jair Bolsonaro.
He spared no effort to achieve it.
In two years of presidency, the Head of State has already taken 31 decisions - half of which by decree - which have facilitated access to arms.
Each Brazilian citizen can now buy up to six weapons.
And he has the right to wear two.
The president also broadened the range of calibers available to individuals.
They can now acquire over 600 ammo at one time.
Whoever likes to present himself by mimicking a pistol shot with his fingers wants to "
arm the Brazilian population so that they can defend themselves
".
Against who ?
The dictatorship.
Arming the population would be the best remedy against the return of a military dictatorship, he said a few months ago.
Strong increase in arms sales
As a result, arms sales have almost doubled.
In 2020, 180,000 new weapons were registered in Brazil, a record.
Polls show, however, that a majority of Brazilians are opposed to this pro-gun policy.
This is why Jair Bolsonaro's decisions are not the subject of any debate in Parliament and are taken by decree.
By facilitating access to weapons, Jair Bolsonaro had also promised to make the country safer.
But after a slight decrease in violence in recent years, homicides increased by 5% in 2020. And this despite the pandemic and traffic restrictions.
But the supporters of the president, and the head of state himself, are careful not to mention this figure.
Or in order to challenge it.
According to them, easier access to weapons over the past two years has helped bring down the death toll in Brazil, even if the statistics say the opposite.
The arms policy in this very closely resembles that of the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, observers note: the Bolsonaro government ignores scientific data, takes decisions "in spite of common sense" and remains impervious to criticism .
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