It increased by 474% from 2018 to 2022.
The number of Brazilians licensed to carry a firearm increased by 474% from 2018 to 2022, as the government under President Zaich Bolsonaro relaxed the rules on the issue, according to data released by NGOs on Tuesday.
In 2018, the year the far-right president was elected, 117,467 people had gun licenses as members of sports shooting clubs, hunters or collectors.
Their number has increased sixfold in the days of Mr. Bolsonaro, who took power in January 2019: 673,818 people were in possession of firearms licenses in June 2022, according to figures released by the non-governmental organization Brazilian Forum for Public Safety (Fórum). Brasileiro de Segurança Pública, FBSP).
“We have seen a large increase in the number of firearms circulating in the country under the Bolsonaro government,” FBSP President Henato Sergio de Lima told AFP.
The NGO estimates that some 4.4 million firearms are in the hands of individuals in Brazil, citing records kept by the military and federal police issuing firearms licenses.
“The problem is that almost a third of these firearms (1.5 million) are in the hands of their illegal owners, as the licenses (which are supposed to be re-approved at regular intervals) were not renewed on time.” , the researcher explained.
“Once the licenses expire, it is impossible to determine whether the weapons end up in the hands of criminals,” the FBSP warns.
After taking power, Zaich Bolsonaru, a former army captain, issued a series of decrees facilitating access to firearms, in particular allowing the purchase of additional weapons and ammunition.
Some of these decrees are subject to analysis by the Supreme Court, which is called upon to decide whether they comply with the Constitution or not.
In its annual report on public safety, the FBSP reports that 47,503 homicides were recorded in Brazil in 2021, down 6.5% from 2020.
But the NGO recalls that the country is still experiencing a state of “extreme violence”: “in 2020, one-fifth of premeditated homicides worldwide were committed in Brazil”, a country that accounts for just 2.7% of the world’s population (213 million inhabitants).
The number of homicides decreased in all areas of the country except the north, where the Amazon is located (+ 7.9%).
The Amazon region – where British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian indigenous expert Bruno Pereira were assassinated on June 5 – is home to 13 of the 30 Brazilian cities with the highest homicide rates in the world.
The state of Brazil, which is considered the most dangerous in the whole country, is Macapa, in the state of Amap., On the border with Guyana: the homicide rate there is 63.2 per 100,000 inhabitants.
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