See impacts of changes in the Lula government’s gun policies

As announced since the election campaign, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) has spared no efforts to make the country’s gun control policy more rigid. Since day one, the government has published measures that directly impact the category of Hunters, Shooters and Collectors (CACs).

In addition, the new rules hit owners of shooting clubs and gun stores. As a result, businessmen from sectors affected by the decree issued by Lula on the first day of his term in power have resorted to layoffs and even closing doors due to various restrictions – the day after the publication of the decree, Gazeta do Povo had already anticipated the possible economic impacts of the measure.

Among the determinations, the decree annuls several measures edited during the government of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) that made access to weapons and ammunition more flexible; suspends granting new registration certificates to CACs; restricts the amount of weapons and ammunition that can be registered per person; and suspends the registration of new clubs and shooting schools. In addition, it prohibits the Army from authorizing any type of new acquisition of weapons and orders the interruption of acquisition processes that were in progress.

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Sport shooters were also targets of restrictions and reported difficulties in carrying out training in view of the significant reduction in the number of ammunition allowed for purchase. Entities representing the sport point out that the new determinations may make the practice of the modality unfeasible in Brazil.

Finally, the ordinance signed at the beginning of the month by the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Flávio Dino, in which the government determined that permitted and restricted weapons be re-registered in the Federal Police (PF) system within a period of 60 days, has been pointed out as abusive and illegal by CACs and congressmen opposing the government.

“Decree of Revenge”

Flávio Dino recently signaled what the government’s next steps will be in relation to CACs. When creating a working group, on February 3, to bring new regulations to the Disarmament Statute, the main gun control policy in Brazil, the minister said that the government will act for a “definitive regulation”.

“Our desire is to have a definitive regulation, without changing the law. It is not our objective to change the law, but at an infra-legal level, decrees, ordinance, in short, covering, for example, this theme about weapons for permitted use, weapons for use restricted, quantitative, because this has a very strong impact on public safety and the fight against criminal organizations”, he said.

But, according to sources interviewed by the report, the first steps taken by the Lula government in terms of disarmament are much more related to political retaliation against groups that mostly supported Bolsonaro’s reelection last year than to measures specifically related to public safety.

For Marcelo Danfenback, president of the National League of Sports Shooters (Linade) and a businessman in the sector, the way the government is treating CACs and shooting clubs is “revanchist”. “The decree of January 1st was published out of sheer persecution of a section of Bolsonaro voters, the CACs, who for the most part are from the conservative right. he said.

A People’s Gazette, federal deputy Marcos Pollon (PL-MS), a lawyer specializing in gun legislation, referred to the recent changes and the “revoking” of the Lula government as a “revenge decree”. For him, the ordinance that obliges the re-registration of weapons puts at risk “the safety of the population, the CACs and the collection, because they will not have the right to be carried in transit” by moving weapons for restricted use to Federal Police stations. , the weapons must be transported without ammunition and without being available for use, which, according to the parliamentarian, generates significant risks to the owners.

“This decree is an extension of the electoral platform without any technical justification, which aims exclusively to pursue segments such as sport shooting, which stands out for following the law, obeying the law and behaving in a peaceful and orderly manner, in a sport that has existed for decades in Brazil and which even consecrated us with the first Olympic gold medal”, said parliamentarian

Pollon points out that the impacts of the government’s measures are already causing economic losses by bankrupting shooting clubs and weapons stores. “In the month of January alone, dozens of companies were closed, almost a hundred, and more than 150,000 requests for prior notice. There are 150,000 Brazilian families who, by the end of February, may be starving,” he said. The data are from Associação Pró-Armas, the main pro-armament organization in the country.

Government decrees and ordinances are also being pointed out as “unconstitutional” for altering points in the Disarmament Statute Law, such as the one that determines the registration of weapons for restricted use with the Army Command and not with the Federal Police. According to Danfenback, the decree brings a series of unconstitutionalities, in addition to “incongruent acts” with the current legislation. “There was no change in legislation to justify the decree, which does not have the power to change a law,” he says.

Linade’s president also regrets the damage that shooting clubs are having with the new government measures. “There is already an absurd amount of acquaintances who are closing companies and lowering their doors, waiting for a better scenario, because it is cheaper to leave closed than to work. I have already dismissed eight employees because there is no way to keep it. how to maintain,” lamented Danfenback, who owns a gun shop and shooting range.

In the report, the Brazilian Hunting and Shooting Confederation (CBCT), through its communication director, Leopoldo Fiewski, described the measures announced by the government as “harsh and radical”.

Re-registration with the PF within 60 days is “confusion of laws”

Regarding the re-registration of weapons for restricted use in the Federal Police, Danfenback sees the measure as a “confusion of laws”, since the restricted calibers are managed by the Brazilian Army, the body responsible for regulating and supervising the control of acquisition and records through the Military Weapons Management System (Sigma). “The change is an imbroglio and an aberration that leaves no logical sense, without a legally stable framework for the CACs”, he criticized.

The ordinance determines which weapons for permitted use may be registered on the PF website. On the other hand, owners of restricted-use weapons will also have to present the equipment at the PF stations, bearing proof of registration with the Army’s Sigma.

The president of Linade reinforces the concern with the transfer of weapons to Federal Police stations. “How are you going to take these restricted caliber weapons, the vast majority of which are rifles, 5.56 caliber, 7.62 caliber, carbine or hunting weapons? What is the security of the place? What is the point of registering already registered weapons?” he questioned.

He also points out the long distances from some cities to a PF station and the cost of stay that some would have to pay for traveling long distances, as harmful elements to CACs, especially considering that they are not unregistered weapons, but Yes, they were already fixed. “The State is one. There is total harmony between these institutions – all that is needed is an exchange of information [entre Exército e PF]”, it says.

Still according to the ordinance, the owner of weapons that does not proceed with the re-registration will be subject to the apprehension of the equipment and may be liable for illegal possession and/or possession. The document also mentions that owners who wish to dispose of the weapons will be able to deliver them at collection points that will be made available by the government.

For Deputy Pollon, the ordinance weakens the right to property and imposes an administrative obligation. “The consequence is the confiscation of assets”, he declares. “They want to transform the incidence of the citizen – who acquired his weaponry in the validity of the law, on a regular basis – into a crime. This is absurd, because the legal competence stipulated by the Disarmament Statute belongs to the Army. Through the decree and the ordinance, they are catastrophically confronting the legal text”, he continues.

Lack of dialogue on gun policy changes

The spokesperson for the Brazilian Hunting and Shooting Confederation states that the entity has done everything within its institutional reach to try to reverse, or at least mitigate, the impacts caused by the Lula government’s determinations. “We have already sent documents and questions, we are available to compose the working group and help with technical information about sport shooting. We have also asked the Ministry of Justice for a hearing to address the issue”, says the CBCT communication director.

According to him, the government’s measures will have an impact on the shooting competitions that are marked on the national and international calendar. “Brazilian athletes are training and disputing places in the Olympics, in addition to participating in championships abroad representing the country. The rules need to be adapted, otherwise the activity will become unfeasible. We hope that the dialogue will be open”, highlighted Fiewski.

The government’s lack of dialogue with the CACS, by the way, is one of the most questionable points by the category. “They don’t have access to dialogue, to explain the situation. We are not assisted by the government”, regrets Marcelo Danfenback.