To make weapons more flexible, the Chamber of Deputies now focuses on giving autonomy to states | Policy

CCJ discusses whether states can legislate on weapons

If the proposal becomes law, States that decide to enact specific legislation on the subject will need to prove that they are able to monitor gun owners.

The text under analysis also defines that future state authorizations would only guarantee the use or possession of weapons within its territory.

The vote in the CCJ was close, which indicates that the debate tends to be divided. The text also passed through the Public Security Committee and is ready to be discussed in the plenary, but there is still no defined date for the vote and the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL) did not comment.

The proposed model is similar to that adopted in the United States, where each state defines its own legislation on the subject. Despite this, experts point out that gun control there is fragile.

“In the United States, there are states where criminal records are not even analyzed for the purchase of a firearm,” says Roberto Uchoa, board member of the Brazilian Public Security Forum. “In others, sales to teenagers are allowed. This means that anyone who wants to buy a gun can do so by moving to other states.”

He says the project brings the “worst idea they’ve had about firearms enforcement and control in decades.”

“In terms of public security, this will be very negative, because with centralized control we already have a problem with diversion of weapons from the legal to the illegal market, imagine each state being able to decide requirements for release, types of weapons, it will be the lack of control total”, says Uchoa.

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For FGV’s Constitutional Law professor, Eloisa Machado, the text is unconstitutional and would make it difficult to control the circulation of weapons.

“If each state is allowed to have specific legislation, in practice we could have a scenario of regulatory chaos, with little control over the circulation of these weapons and a negative impact on public safety.”

The professor warns of an attempt to undermine gun control policy in Brazil. “In the last 4 years this was done through a series of decrees issued by former president Jair Bolsonaro, and now there is this attempt also by his followers to create a shortcut and a hole in the Disarmament Statute”.

The concern with inspection was also mentioned in a technical note released by the Sou da Paz institute. In addition to seeing the proposal as unconstitutional, Sou da Paz states that In countries where it is possible to adopt state legislation on the subject, the effects on public security are negative, including an increase in the number of stolen weapons.

“In addition to the impacts on the general circulation of firearms in the country and on criminal indicators, allowing the federation units to adopt different regulations related to the possession and carrying of weapons adds a factor of great complexity to the supervision of these rules and the daily life of the policing, given the nature of free movement between state borders”, states Sou da Paz.

During the vote on the project in the committee, deputies spoke about the possibility of questioning the constitutionality of the measure if it is approved – the PSOL has already stated that it will appeal to the Federal Supreme Court (STF) if the text becomes law.

Representative Fernanda Melchionna (PSOL-RS) said that the argument is article 21 of the Constitution, which points out that it is the Union’s prerogative to legislate on weapons by pointing out that “it is the Union’s responsibility to authorize and supervise the production and trade of war material”.

For deputy Chico Alencar (PSOL-RJ), if more weapons enter circulation, more deaths will occur and policies will be weakened.

“[É ] Another setback based on the pernicious American conception of every citizen being a weapon”, he stated.

The leader of the largest bloc in the Chamber, Aureo Ribeiro (SD-RJ), defends greater flexibility in gun ownership, but believes that this cannot happen through the states. “I think we have to make weapons more flexible for some sectors, but I don’t think it can be done by states”, he states.

He believes that the project may not be discussed in the plenary because it goes against the Constitution. “I will take a position not to even put a project like this in plenary. We have to solve the problem of Brazil and not of specific states”, said the leader.

President of the CCJ and author of the project, deputy Caroline de Toni (PL-SC) justified the presentation of the project as necessary due to the size of Brazil and the “different realities in the various States of the Federation”.

“In the current scenario of this year 2023, in which 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, as long as they are promoted peacefully and within the law”, she says.