Nunes Marques cites “right to defend oneself” and votes to maintain part of gun decrees

The Federal Supreme Court (STF) resumed this Friday (23) the judgment on the decrees of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) to make access to weapons more flexible. The analysis was blocked due to a request for a view made by Minister Kassio Nunes Marques. In September 2022, Minister Edson Fachin suspended excerpts from the Bolsonaro government’s decrees dealing with weapons.

In addition, decrees issued by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) revoked some rules determined in the past government on the subject. Now, the Court analyzes the actions in the virtual plenary. The trial began this Friday (23) and runs until the 30th of this month. In three actions reported by Fachin, Nunes Marques disagreed. In his vote, he defended the “right of self-defense” of the population.

For Nunes Marques, “just as the right to health lends itself to guaranteeing the right to life of every citizen, the right to adequately defend oneself against an unfair threat to one’s very existence seems to derive from a constitutional guarantee, constituting a consequence and means of protection of their constitutional right to life”.

“Therefore, depriving citizens of the possession of a firearm, in my view, represents a departure from the promise made by the Constitution to protect its plexus of constitutional rights (such as the rights to life, health and freedom, among many others). That is why I believe that the right of self-defense (of one’s own life and that of one’s family members) is a right to protect the right to life, the highest fundamental guarantee provided for in the Constitution”, wrote Nunes Marques.

The minister defended that the Supreme reject part of the questions against Bolsonaro’s decrees. On the merits, Nunes Marques accompanied Fachin to consider some ordinances edited by Bolsonaro unconstitutional, “in respect for the majority understanding signed by this Supreme Court, with the reservations of personal understanding”.

“If, in a universe of more than 200 million Brazilians, there have been sporadic episodes of violence, I don’t see how they can, in isolation, justify a rule aimed at hindering something that seems to me to be a very effective means of self-defense”, said Nunes Marques in the vote.