Brazil’s State Gun Control Ranking: Room for improvement

This story is a the result of a partnership between Comunidad Segura and Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Pública

Brazil needs to make significant advances in firearms and ammunition control to obtain more effective results in combating violence. That is the main conclusion reached by the Firearms Control Ranking of Brazilian States (Ranking dos Estados no Controle de Armas) that was released last week by the NGO Viva Rio and the Firearms and Ammunition SubCommission (Subcomissão de Armas e Munições, Subcom) that belongs to the Lower House of the Brazilian Congress. Preliminary figures indicate that, independently of their ranking, Brazil’s states are still far from ideal.
The study was supported by the National Public Security Office (Senasp) that belongs to the Ministry of Justice and its goal is to map gun control shortcomings in order to set budget guidelines in a field that is considered strategic for fighting the illegal arms trade.

The highest ranking states according to the survey are the Federal District ( that was assigned top grade, 100%, for reference purposes), followed by Rio de Janeiro (95.5%) and São Paulo (93.4%); while Amapá, Sergipe and Rondônia were tied in last place, with 0%. It is expected that the preliminary figures announced for the states ranking provide an incentive for Brazilian states to cooperate more closely with the study for its final version, expected February 2010. “We will compare the data with international gun control standards and then we will be able to have a better picture of how far we are lagging behind,” said Antônio Rangel, coordinator of the Viva Rio Gun Control Program.

Study criteria included the numbers of illegal arms seized over the past 10 years, the number of guns collected from the population during disarmament drives, the number of guns with renewed registrations, and the quality of the information that is made available on gun circulation in state territory. The data was first analyzed in 2005, when the Brazil’s Lower House of Congress (Câmara dos Deputados) asked for cooperation from the nation’s Public Security Offices and Courts of Justice during the Parliamentary Hearing Commission’s investigation into gun trafficking.

A questionnaire designed by the Viva Comunidade civil society organization widened the field of the survey by drawing a profile of gun control in the various units of the Brazilian federation. According to the study, a number of states sent incomplete data or data that was not in a digital format, complicating analysis. A few states also took too long to send in the data: Mato Grosso do Sul, for example, took 377 days to send their data. 

The study found that among the lowest ranking states there are a great number of arms deposits with little control or security, that gun data provision is haphazard, that the data itself is dispersed and that they lag behind technologically.  “There were cases such as Sergipe, in which the data was reported as being lost,” said Antônio Rangel, (right) who points out that Sergipe was the Brazilian state that had collected the greatest number of guns per capita in the disarmament campaign of 2005.

Necessary controls

Congressman Raul Jungmann, president of the Subcom and research coordinator, believes that authorities still have not made the necessary connection between illegal guns and crime. “They would rather invest in policing and in armament, measures that demand a lot more effort than straight forward gun control and that do not guarantee effective results,” said Jungmann.
The study that provided the foundations of the state ranking cites that great part of the guns seized with criminals started out in the legal gun markets. “If we had simply tracked these guns from their date of purchase, it would be made it much easier for us to know their trajectory, and we would be able to stop them from getting into the hands of criminals,” said Jungmann.

 
Antonio Rangel champions a reduction in arms caches as a way to control levels of violence. “The combined measures of restricting permissions to bear arms and the gun collection campaigns in 2005 and 2008 led to a 12% drop in gun-related homicides in Brazil: saving six thousand lives. These measures have already proven themselves effective,” said Rangel.

A political and economic obstacle

Still according to Rangel, there are two reasons to stop governments from making gun control a priority. The first involves the powerful interests involved in guns and ammunition sales.  The second involves the many attributions of the Federal Police force that work against its ability to ensure long term continuity for gun control campaigns. “When the population pressures, the government instructs the police to tighten their surveillance, when public attention wanes, the police focus on other topics. If we called on civil society to participate actively, as it did during the disarmament campaign, it would makes for a more powerful force, “ said Rangel. 

 
Rangel also stated that, in his view, the Lower House (Câmara dos Deputados) is caught in a contradiction. While the Subcom has just released the state ranking on gun control, there are 20 bills in parliament that aim to weaken restrictions on bearing guns. “Arming people is not a solution, but to offer quality public security to protect people, as we see in the countries with low crime rates, “ said Rangel.

Rangel believes that society has the strength to stop the “bancada da bala” as the gun lobby is nicknamed in Brazil. “Congress voted to enact the Disarmament Statute (Brazil’s Gun Law) in 2003 because 82% of Brazilians were in favor of it, “ said Rangel.

Congressman Raul Jungmann (left) believes that only a national gun control policy will overcome the political and economic lobbying that stops any further progress from being made. “I would say that the main point of this policy would be the fact that Brazilian states are complied to send in information on firearms. The existence of the Sinarm (the National Firearms System) is of little use if there is no obligation to keep it updated,” said Jungmann.

The Preliminary Report, in full, IN PORTUGUESE

Cover Photo: Kita Pedroza

Translation Lis Horta Moriconi