The bill (PL) approved this Wednesday (23) by the Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) of the Chamber, which transfers to the states and the Federal District the possibility of legislating on the possession and carrying of firearms, should weaken arms control in Brazil, in addition to facilitating access to weapons by criminal organizations, evaluated three experts on the subject heard by the Brazil Agency.
Roberto Uchôa: research shows a direct relationship between the increase in weapons and the increase in violence. Photo: Roberto Uchôa/Arquivo Pes
Federal police officer and Advisor to the Brazilian Public Security Forum, Roberto Uchôa, says that the measure copies the example of the United States, where each state legislates on the topic.
“In New York, which has more restrictive legislation on access to firearms, weapons are acquired, for example, in Florida, where it is much more permissive, and are taken to be used in crimes in New York. I mean, you create a very strong connection within the country between these legal and illegal markets”, he highlighted.
The CCJ approved the measure by 34 votes against 30. It allows the federation units to legislate on weapons for personal defense, sports and control of invasive exotic species. The proposal still needs to be analyzed in the Chamber plenary.
The project manager at Instituto Sou da Paz, Natália Pollachi, warned that if states facilitate access to weapons, organized crime will take advantage.
Natalia Pollachi, from the Sou da Paz Institute, states that the measure weakens firearms control in the country. Photograph: Personal archive
“Organized crime buys people to be sources of legal weapons. We have seen dozens of cases in recent years of orange people. The person buys with the intention of making this detour to receive a payment to lend their CPF”, she commented.
A similar assessment was made by a professor at Fundação Getulio Vargas do Rio (FGV Direito Rio), criminal lawyer Maíra Fernandes, who warned that the project is dangerous because it allows the number of weapons in circulation to increase, facilitating the work of criminal organizations.
“It would facilitate [o acesso às armas por facções criminosas]. There will be legislation that will authorize this access to weapons more easily. So, the individual just needs to buy the weapon in a state that makes it easier”, said Maíra, remembering that two out of every three murders in Brazil are via firearms.
Furthermore, experts warned that the measure weakens firearms control in Brazil. “We know that monitoring these weapons is already difficult in Brazil. It already suffers from a series of precarious conditions. If we have this heterogeneity of regulations, this will be even more difficult and even more precarious to monitor”, explained Natália, from Sou da Paz.
Uchôa highlighted that the flow into the illegal market will grow. “The effect is very bad because you can no longer control the circulation of firearms in the country. You cannot prevent the flow of these weapons from the legal to the illegal market,” he commented.
Supporters
The complementary bill currently being processed in the Chamber is authored by the president of the CCJ, federal deputy Caroline de Toni (PL-SC). The parliamentarian says that the measure is necessary because the current federal government has been restricting access to firearms compared to the previous government.
“The new federal government has been imposing strong limitations on this segment of firearms, signaling other series of restrictions to be implemented, all initiatives to avoid this regulatory setback are welcome”, he highlighted.
According to the rapporteur, Deputy Delegate Paulo Bilynskyj (PL-SP), each state must legislate according to its own reality. “A country of continental dimensions and great regional peculiarities, given by nature itself, legislation that deals with access to firearms must be treated differently,” he said.
The measure has support from the so-called bullet bench, which has advocated in Brazil the reduction of restrictions on access to firearms. For these parliamentarians, more weapons in the hands of society brings more security.
“The project simply gives the right to every responsible, law-abiding citizen to be armed to defend not only his life, that of his family, or his heritage, including against the dictatorships that are being implemented in this country,” he said. deputy Éder Mauro (PL-PA).
The proposal faces questions regarding its constitutionality since article 22 of the Constitution says that it is the exclusive responsibility of the Union to legislate on “war material”. Opposing deputies promise to appeal to the Supreme Court if the measure is approved.
Rapporteur Bilynskyj maintains that the sole paragraph of the same article allows a complementary law to authorize states to legislate “on specific issues of the matters listed in this article [Art. 22]”.
Bilynskyj also says that states should only legislate “residually” on the topic, adding that the authorizations granted will only be valid in each state’s own territory.
Weapons and Security
The three experts interviewed by the report question the thesis that more weapons bring more security. For criminalist Maíra Fernandes, from FGV Rio, this is a false sense of security.
Criminalist Maíra Fernandes says that a greater number of weapons gives a false sense of security – Maíra Fernandes/Personal Archive
“There is no shortage of research to show this false relationship between having a weapon and having more security. In fact, the probability of a person dying even because they are armed is much higher. There is research in this regard. So, in general, I repeat, the more access to weapons by the population, the higher the rates of violent deaths, including accidental deaths, will be,” he highlighted.
Federal police officer and doctoral candidate in the security field Roberto Uchôa said that almost all research indicates a direct relationship between the increase in weapons and an increase in violence.
“In international research, the overwhelming majority proves that the greater circulation of firearms increases the number of deaths from firearms and increases the number of crimes committed with firearms, mainly by facilitating access to this instrument,” he said.
Uchôa cited research carried out by Stanford University, in the United States, which evaluated 17.6 million people in California over a period of 12 years to compare those who lived in homes with firearms and those who lived in homes without weapons.
“They found that, in homes where there were firearms, the person was twice as likely to be a victim of homicide, three times more likely to be a victim of homicide using a firearm at home, and seven times more likely to of being a victim of domestic violence with the use of a firearm”, he highlighted.
The representative of the Sou da Paz Institute Natália Pollachi says that it is not uncommon for people with legal weapons to commit crimes. Furthermore, according to her, anyone who has a legal weapon becomes a target for criminals.
“This weapon can be stolen, stolen or diverted to the illegal market, to criminal organizations. The person finds out who is going to the shooting club and goes to that house. In the previous federal government, people could buy up to 60 firearms. So, we have real arsenals that organized crime can target in order to supply itself”, he pondered.
U.S
The United States is a great example for advocates of broader access to firearms, as the country has legislation that makes it easier for the population to arm itself, when compared to other nations.
A 2015 survey published in the scientific journal The American Journal of Medicine compared homicide rates per 100,000 inhabitants in the United States with 22 other high-income countries, such as Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom.
“Americans are ten times more likely to die as a result of a firearm compared to residents of these other high-income countries,” the study says, adding that “in the United States, the firearm homicide rate is 25 times higher, the suicide rate by firearm is 8 times higher and the unintentional death rate by firearm is more than 6 times higher. Of all gun deaths in all of these countries, more than 80% occur in the United States.”
More recent data indicate that the difference continues. The report compared the rates of violent deaths, violent deaths from firearms and deaths of women from firearms between the United States and high-income countries, including Brazil for comparison. The data in the table below are from Small Arms Surveyan organization that systematizes violence data from around the world.
