Brazilian radical leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed a “Responsible Gun Control” decree this weekend to further restrict civilian access to firearms, rolling back policies implemented by former President Jair Bolsonaro.
The executive order, signed on Friday at the presidential Planalto Palace, forbids civilians from having access to certain types of firearms, reduces the total legal number of firearms a citizen may own, greatly reduces the annual amount of ammunition that civilians can legally buy, and imposes restrictions on shooting clubs and firearms for hunters, marksmen, and collectors.
The decree also establishes guidelines to transfer authority over the regulation and inspection of civilian firearms from the Brazilian army to the federal police, which will now exercise exclusive power over civilian activities involving weapons and ammunition in cooperation with the nation’s Justice and Public Security Ministry.
In a speech announcing the new regulations, Lula said, “we cannot allow there to be arsenals of weapons in the hands of people.”
“That is why we will continue to fight for a disarmed country,” Lula said. “It is the Brazilian police who have to be well armed, it is the Brazilian armed forces who have to be well armed. What we need to lower is the prices of books, and the price of access to cultural things that our children do not have access to.”
Brazil’s Minister of Justice Flávio Dino said that the new set of rules ends “irresponsible armamentism” as a result of Bolsonaro’s gun rights reforms.
“We are closing a tragic chapter of darkness in Brazilian life. Today, you [Lula] are signing a decree that definitively puts an end to the irresponsible weaponry that political extremism has sown in Brazilian homes,” Dino said during the decree’s official signing ceremony. “Weapons in the right hands, and not weapons in the hands of people who perpetrate femicide.”
“It is a thoughtful decree. We listened to everyone, secretaries, parliamentarians, entities,” he continued. “And it is a balanced decree, which reduces the number of weapons, makes weapons of permitted use for the exclusive use of security forces and also limits the irresponsible expansion of shooting clubs.”
Civilians are now only allowed to purchase up to two firearms for self-defense, down from four, and must comply with a series of requirements to demonstrate proof of self-defense use. The total amount of ammunition that Brazilian citizens can buy per year has been reduced from 200 to 50 bullets.
The decree rolled back reforms Bolsonaro implemented that allowed civilians to purchase 9mm, .40, and .45 Automatic Colt Pistols (ACP), as well as semi-automatic smoothbore firearms. Brazilian citizens can no longer legally obtain these types of firearms.
The decree also reduces the duration of firearm registry permits from ten years to three to five years depending on the firearm’s intended use. Active members of Brazil’s police and other government security officials, meanwhile, no longer have to abide by any time limit on their permits.
Lula further imposed restrictions on firearms for hunters, marksmen, and collectors, reducing the total number of firearms and ammunition permitted in each category, introducing new required authorization permits for hunters, establishing new sub-categories for sports shooters, and reducing the number of firearms legally allowed for collectors from five of each model down to one weapon of each model, type, brand, variant, caliber, and origin.
While the decree “guarantees” legal possession of these types of firearms if previously obtained and properly registered, the Brazilian government announced that it will implement a buyback program for these firearms this year.
The decree also imposes restrictions on sport shooting clubs, prohibiting 24-hour establishments and limiting operating hours from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Shooting clubs and instructional businesses must now be located at least one kilometer away from public or private schools, giving existing locations an 18-month grace period to comply with the new ruling.
The new gun control decree is the first part of a broader “Security Action Program” launched by Lula’s administration on Friday. In addition to gun control, the Security Action Program, according to the Brazilian government, seeks to combat school violence, protect the Amazon region, and change regional public fund financing.
The program will also greatly increase penalties for crimes “committed against the democratic rule of law,” including longer prison sentences for those who organize, finance, or lead “anti-democratic movements.” It will also reportedly provide for the blocking of bank accounts and seizure of assets of people in whose cases law enforcement finds “sufficient evidence of authorship or financing of crimes against the democratic state of law.”
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.