03/01/2024 – 12:25
There were 20,822 new registrations of this type in 2023, the lowest number since 2004. Federal Police attribute the drop to more restrictive rules adopted this year. The number of new weapons registered in the name of civilians for personal defense in 2023 in Brazil was the lowest in recent years 19 years old. There were 20,822 new registrations of this type, 82% less than the previous year.
The data comes from the National Weapons System (Sinarm), managed by the Federal Police (PF), which associated the drop with the tightening of criteria and rules for purchasing weapons this year.
A decree issued in July by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on the topic reversed flexibility that had been adopted during the Jair Bolsonaro administration and changed the inspection rules.
The rule reduced the number of weapons for personal defense that each person can have from four to two, and began to require effective proof of need.
According to the PF, there was a drop in new registration requests, and 75% of possession requests were denied.
Decree also tightened rules for CACs
The July decree also established greater control of weapons registered in the hunters, shooters and collectors (CACs) modality, which had been made more flexible under the previous government and registered records of new registrations. During the Bolsonaro administration, the number of people with a CAC registration increased seven times.
According to surveys carried out by the Igarapé Institute, in 2017 there were 63,137 people with active CAC registrations, and in June 2022 this number reached 673.88 people, who accumulated 1,006,725 weapons.
The decree also changed the responsibility for monitoring weapons purchased via CACs and shooting clubs. This competence, which belonged to the Army, was transferred to the PF.
The change from the Army to the PF resulted from a government perception and the result of an audit by the Federal Audit Court (TCU) indicating that the military did not perform this function efficiently.
Brazil leads homicide ranking in 2023
Civil society entities opposed to making weapons purchases more flexible argue that arming the population is not an effective solution for combating crime and could contribute to an increase in the number of violent deaths. Furthermore, part of the weapons purchased legally over time ends up feeding the parallel market.
In 2022, 76.5% of violent deaths in Brazil were caused by firearms, according to the Brazilian Public Security Yearbook.
Brazil leads the world ranking of homicides in absolute numbers, according to data from the Global Study on Homicide 2023. The country recorded 47,722 murders in one year, 10.4% of the world total. In homicides per capita, there are 22.38 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants – almost four times more than the global average, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
(brazil agency, ots)
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