Great News for Criminals: Socialist Brazil Bans Handguns
Jon E. Dougherty, NewsMax.com
Thursday, Jan. 22, 2004
In an effort to trim its high murder rate, Brazil's government has virtually outlawed possession of handguns in public by almost everyone, with the exception of police, soldiers, prison guards and security officers.
The law, which took effect shortly before Christmas, is being hailed by opponents of gun rights as a bold new social experiment they hope will reduce murder rates.
However, other countries that have tried this not-so-new type of "bold social experiment" have had unhappy results.
Nations that have severely restricted and banned firearms have seen their crime rates increase. The United Kingdom, after banning ownership and possession of most guns in 1997, saw its crime and murder rates skyrocket, according to government figures. The same phenomenon occurred in Australia.
Socialist Sweden, despite its peacenick reputation and attacks on gun rights, has a higher murder rate than the United States, Interpol has revealed.
In the U.S., a sweeping federal review of anti-gun laws has found no evidence they reduce violence.
An Aug. 5, 2000 study by the Journal of the American Medical Association found the Brady law had not affected the number of gun homicides, though supporters promised it would when it was passed during the Clinton administration in the mid-1990s.
In Canada, a disastrous attempt at requiring registration of guns has been a boondoggle costing $1 billion and rising.
In Brazil, authorities have also implemented tough new measures against anyone engaging in illegal sales of weapons. Such offenders now face lengthy prison terms with no bail.
The law also raises the minimum age of gun ownership from 21 to 25, and requires every gun buyer to be subjected to a background check.
Meanwhile, a report in the New York Times said, all other gun owners are being informed they will likely have to turn in their weapons within six months. And socialist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who signed what officials are calling the disarmament act Dec. 23, is also planning a national referendum in 2005, in which voters will decide on a ban on all handgun sales in Brazil.
"This is an expression of the unanimous will of society to cut the spiral of violence that unsettles us and embarrasses us before humanity," Lula da Silva said when signing the bill.
A homicide occurs in his country about once every 12 minutes, said the president, and "this statute is certainly not the solution to everything, but it is an exceptional step forward."
Brazil, a country of about 182 million people, has more murders by firearm annually – roughly 40,000, the Washington Post reports – than the United States, with a population of 292 million (the U.S. firearms murder rate in 2003 was about 29,000, the paper said).
And, despite opposition to the new rules by Brazilian gun rights groups and National Rifle Association, polls there indicate most people – 80 percent – support both new rules. Sixty-seven percent said they supported a ban on the ownership of all guns. Gun rights groups lobbied lawmakers hard to reject the bill.
Officials in Brazil say that about 2 million guns are legally registered but that the number of unregistered guns in a country larger than the contiguous 48 United States is as high as 20 million.
'Mercy of the Criminals'
Gun makers in Brazil and elsewhere say criminals will continue to buy firearms on the black market or will smuggle them in, meaning the new rules will leave the law-abiding public unarmed and vulnerable.
"Brazil, which is struggling for equality, has just passed a law that leaves the poor at the mercy of the criminals," said Renato Conil, a vice president at Forjas Taurus, Brazil's largest gun-maker. "Now it's only the victim that will be disarmed."
But gun control supporters said claims by opponents that the law will have no effect on the black market industry argue a third of the 77,000 weapons seized by police since 1951 were purchased legally.
Jon E. Dougherty, NewsMax.com
Thursday, Jan. 22, 2004
In an effort to trim its high murder rate, Brazil's government has virtually outlawed possession of handguns in public by almost everyone, with the exception of police, soldiers, prison guards and security officers.
The law, which took effect shortly before Christmas, is being hailed by opponents of gun rights as a bold new social experiment they hope will reduce murder rates.
However, other countries that have tried this not-so-new type of "bold social experiment" have had unhappy results.
Nations that have severely restricted and banned firearms have seen their crime rates increase. The United Kingdom, after banning ownership and possession of most guns in 1997, saw its crime and murder rates skyrocket, according to government figures. The same phenomenon occurred in Australia.
Socialist Sweden, despite its peacenick reputation and attacks on gun rights, has a higher murder rate than the United States, Interpol has revealed.
In the U.S., a sweeping federal review of anti-gun laws has found no evidence they reduce violence.
An Aug. 5, 2000 study by the Journal of the American Medical Association found the Brady law had not affected the number of gun homicides, though supporters promised it would when it was passed during the Clinton administration in the mid-1990s.
In Canada, a disastrous attempt at requiring registration of guns has been a boondoggle costing $1 billion and rising.
In Brazil, authorities have also implemented tough new measures against anyone engaging in illegal sales of weapons. Such offenders now face lengthy prison terms with no bail.
The law also raises the minimum age of gun ownership from 21 to 25, and requires every gun buyer to be subjected to a background check.
Meanwhile, a report in the New York Times said, all other gun owners are being informed they will likely have to turn in their weapons within six months. And socialist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who signed what officials are calling the disarmament act Dec. 23, is also planning a national referendum in 2005, in which voters will decide on a ban on all handgun sales in Brazil.
"This is an expression of the unanimous will of society to cut the spiral of violence that unsettles us and embarrasses us before humanity," Lula da Silva said when signing the bill.
A homicide occurs in his country about once every 12 minutes, said the president, and "this statute is certainly not the solution to everything, but it is an exceptional step forward."
Brazil, a country of about 182 million people, has more murders by firearm annually – roughly 40,000, the Washington Post reports – than the United States, with a population of 292 million (the U.S. firearms murder rate in 2003 was about 29,000, the paper said).
And, despite opposition to the new rules by Brazilian gun rights groups and National Rifle Association, polls there indicate most people – 80 percent – support both new rules. Sixty-seven percent said they supported a ban on the ownership of all guns. Gun rights groups lobbied lawmakers hard to reject the bill.
Officials in Brazil say that about 2 million guns are legally registered but that the number of unregistered guns in a country larger than the contiguous 48 United States is as high as 20 million.
'Mercy of the Criminals'
Gun makers in Brazil and elsewhere say criminals will continue to buy firearms on the black market or will smuggle them in, meaning the new rules will leave the law-abiding public unarmed and vulnerable.
"Brazil, which is struggling for equality, has just passed a law that leaves the poor at the mercy of the criminals," said Renato Conil, a vice president at Forjas Taurus, Brazil's largest gun-maker. "Now it's only the victim that will be disarmed."
But gun control supporters said claims by opponents that the law will have no effect on the black market industry argue a third of the 77,000 weapons seized by police since 1951 were purchased legally.
