Deputies articulate to overturn measure

Pro-gun deputies have pointed out irregularities in the government ordinance that determined the re-registration of weapons by CACs (collectors, sport shooters and hunters) within 60 days. For them, the document is illegal, circumvents competence that should be exclusive to the Army, ignores the Disarmament Statute and puts the security of the CACs at risk. Parliamentarians are organizing themselves to move forward with a Legislative Decree Project (PDL) that would bar the ordinance’s instructions.

On the day of his inauguration, President Lula (PT) signed a decree to limit access to weapons and ammunition in the country, suspending the granting of new registration certificates to CACs and announcing the need to re-register weapons obtained from 2019 onwards. On January 31st, through the Ministry of Justice, the government set a deadline for this re-registration: until the next April 2nd.

All weapons must be re-registered in the Federal Police system, the National Weapons System (Sinarm) – including those that belong to CACs and which, according to the Disarmament Statute, should only be registered in the Military Weapons Management System ( Sigma), the Brazilian Army weapons database. By law, only weapons used for heritage defense would need to be registered with the PF’s Sinarm.

“This determination to re-register is absolutely illegal, because it goes against the Disarmament Statute, Law 10.826, which provides that permitted caliber weapons will be registered at Sinarm and restricted caliber weapons will be registered at Sigma”, criticizes federal deputy Paulo Bilynskyj (PL -SP), author of one of the bills being filed against the government measure.

Federal deputy Marcos Pollon (PL-MS), who coordinates Proarmas, the main pro-armament association in Brazil, says that the scenario in the class is one of “scorched earth”. “The ordinance establishing re-registration is completely illegal, because the Armament Statute itself stipulates that the Army has the power to supervise this,” he says. “Here in the Legislative, we have been trying to create a cohesive bloc to defend these agendas in order to advance in the PDLs, because we know that it is difficult for you to put a PDL against a newly elected government at the beginning of the term.”

In addition to Bilynskyj, deputies such as Caroline de Toni (PL-SC), Pedro Lupion (PP-PR) and Ubiratan Sanderson (PL-RS) are working on bills simultaneously. Pollon believes this strategy is hasty.

“It doesn’t make any sense. The ideal is to be calm. That’s why I didn’t show any. Rather than presenting a sequence of PDLs and PECs or whatever, I’m trying to concatenate supporters. ‘I’m going to make a sequence of a thousand bills and that’s it…’ That’s not how the house works. The voter is happy, but it hinders the development of the work”, says Pollon.

Co-author of Sanderson’s project, federal deputy Silvia Waiãpi (PL-AP) says that each pro-gun congressman has adopted a line of action, but that “up ahead, everyone will act together”. “We fight for equal rights, for the right to defend ourselves, including our own lives. At a time when we face the attempt at a public policy to extricate criminals, when we condemn our security forces, when we take away the legitimacy of these forces’ activities, when we place our population at the mercy of organized crime, the good people are becoming hostages of criminality. It is not the Brazilian population that we are protecting (with the government ordinance)”, comments the deputy.

Parliamentarians see risk to the security of CACs in the process of re-registering weapons

Another fear of parliamentarians related to the government’s measure is regarding possible violent acts against CACs who are going to re-register their weapons.

Bilynskyj claims that the ordinance “imposes a kind of proof of life” by ordering that the sports shooter has to take his restricted caliber weapon to the PF. “This exposes the shooter’s safety, because he has to take the gun from home to the Federal Police without any kind of security. He cannot be armed, so he is 100% exposed to criminality.”

Pollon fears the possibility that criminals will stay close to the Federal Police stations to approach those who have guns and steal their equipment. “Imagine a person who has 15 rifles. What will she do? Is she going to put it in the back of a pickup truck and parade around town until she gets to the police, not having a gun to protect herself? This is tremendous nonsense, ”she says.

Another point criticized by the parliamentarians is the passage of the ordinance that fits in the crime of irregular possession of a firearm, described in the Disarmament Statute, who does not re-register his weapon. “It is legal nonsense on all levels. It violates the principle of legality, the Federal Constitution and the Disarmament Statute, as it creates a new lawless crime. The real purpose of this ordinance is to criminalize self-defense in Brazil. It’s absurd,” says Bilynskyj.

Deputies also complain about the lack of openness to dialogue by the Ministry of Justice. “It is a completely dictatorial and anti-democratic posture. On their work front, the only civil entities that participate are recognized disarmament entities, which receive international funding from the Open Society to carry out this type of intervention. Why don’t they open up a dialogue with organized civil society entities that are known to understand the subject and who are in favor of civil armament? Why do they only open it for disarmament specialists?”, asks Pollon.

The deputy’s questions were taken by the People’s Gazette to the Ministry of Justice, but the agency had not yet responded to the request for a position until Friday afternoon (10).

Bilynskyj says he should take the case to the Judiciary, considering that the Legislature had its attribution usurped. “I see the appropriateness of preventive habeas corpus to avoid possible imprisonment due to non-compliance with the re-registration order. There is also the possibility of a writ of mandamus, bearing in mind the clear and certain right to register your permitted caliber weapons at Sinarm and of restricted caliber at Sigma”, he observes.

While looking for a solution, parliamentarians ask gun owners affected by the ordinance to be patient. “The orientation is that they take it easy for us to analyze the extent of the damage and see what the consequences will be. There are 60 days to do it. There’s nothing to do in the first week. That is, at least until we understand what is happening, because it is a completely illegal and absurd rule”, says Pollon.