Argentina Turns in Its Firearms

Consensus is not an easy term in Argentina. Divided between the center-left Peronist government and a heterogeneous opposition, the country's political system is always on the brink of conflict. If, then, consensus is difficult to obtain, unanimity only happens in exceptional occasions. Like arms control: the government and opposition, the House and Senate, have agreed to extend the National Plan for Voluntary Firearms Hand-In beginning in March.

The plan is one of the main points of law 26.216 from 2006, which is considered a milestone in the field of arms control in Argentina because it includes disarmament in its text.

Since then, the topic has been thrust into the public agenda and institutions, which has provided an important push compared to its first year: between July 2007 and December 2008, 107,761 weapons (representing 8.6 percent of all arms recorded in the country at the time) and 774,500 munitions were surrendered and destroyed.

Making it a Federal Plan

Argentina's provinces play an important role in implementing the disarmament plan. It is the local governments who, along with national bodies and civil society, provide neutral places for collecting weapons, which are destroyed upon delivery and are later melted.

According Carola Cóncaro, a coordinator for the disarmament program of the Instituto de Estudios en Ciencias Comparative Penal y Sociales (Inecip) and member of the Argentine Disarmament Network (RAD), the greatest challenge for the plan's second stage is to make it efficient at the national level. This is because Argentina is a federalist system and each province (state) has a lot of autonomy in implementing national policy. "Sometimes the federal system can hinder progress. The plan worked better in the provinces where civil society works together and there is political will in implementing the plan," says Cóncaro.

However, she argues that today's scenario is quite different from 2007 when the national awareness of the plan was "almost nonexistent" and legal owners of firearms were fervent opponents of the voluntary surrender of weapons. "They saw the program as a kind of confiscation, they were panicked about a referendum, " says Cóncaro.

Today, these people—legitimate users (LU), in technical terms— support disarmament policies. This, says Cóncaro, is the result of cooperation between government and civil society in discussing the matter thoroughly, and organizing media workshops on gun control with journalists, whom Cóncaro sees as key actors in raising awareness on the issue.

To this end, part of the campaign strategy was to speak out and make individuals who work on disarmament, like her, available to the press. "Today, I see that there are consequential editorials on disarmament. And more importantly: it's not just covered as a police issue, but rather as a political issue," she says.

RENAR: Between public policy and private managemen

A major challenge of Argentina's Disarmament Plan is developing the framework of the National Weapons Registry (RENAR). The centralization of the DHS agencies, according to Cóncaro, impacts the ability to register arms. For the entire Buenos Aires province (excluding the federal capital and the metropolitan area), there is only one checkpoint, in Mar del Plata, which adds to travel costs and registration fees for legitimate firearm registrants.

Legal firearm users must register with RENAR. To be an LU—a legal individual user—one must be over 21 years, pass psychophysical examinations, show ability to handle the weapon, and have a clean criminal record. The license lasts for five years and a permit for possession lasts one year.

Carola explains that this has been the accepted norm for several years. "Resources are scarce and almost all of our data on gun registration is administered by the Asociación de Industriales y Artículos Merchants Caza y Pesca to (AICACYP) with direct interests in the production and trade of firearms, she added.

"The logic of the neoliberal state in the 1990s, which passed into private hands the administration of public institutions generates this kind of contradiction. It's important to get change the current set up that allows for the entity that manages RENAR's resources to be the same that must be controlled by it," argues Cóncaro. She said that AICACYP's administration of RENAR's budget does not directly obstruct the plan, but "...it would be better if RENAR had autonomy in managing their resources." Cóncaro says the agency supports disarmament and is going through a restructuring process in order to execute public policies "...and not just be a weapons record bank."

A report published in July 2008 by the Coalición Latinoamericana para la Prevención de la Violencia Armada (CLAVE) reveals that there were, at the time, 1,123,059 firearms registered in Argentina, 624,735 in the hands of civilians—96.5% of whom were male.

Today, it is estimated that there are between two and 2.5 million illegal weapons in circulation. The same publication notes that firearms are used in 47.5% of murders committed in the country and that 46% of victims were under 24 years (data from 2005).

Argentina produces handguns (revolvers and pistols) and the market is almost completely concentrated in the hands of a single private company. CLAVE's report shows that between 2000 and 2006, domestic production increased by 32.5% and that the country is the second largest arms exporter in Latin America (behind only Brazil). The main destination is the United States, which buys 71% of exported weapons. Argentina also imports weapons and, more so, ammunition: 37% of ammunition that entered the country in 2004 came from the U.S., Brazil and Italy.

10 minutes to take a weapon out of circulatio

It is still difficult to measure the impact of the first stage of the National Voluntary Collection of Firearms. Diego Fleitas, director of the Association for Public Policy (APP), points out, however, that effectiveness is different from impact. "The main objective of a disarmament program is to reduce levels of violence, but there are other dimensions to a plan like this," he explains. "However, one can measure the effectiveness of the plan on reduction of weapons in circulation. The price increase of illegal weapons may suggest that the supply is lower, "he says.

Preliminary figures from his still unpublished study on disarmament programs in Latin America show that between 2006 and 2008 there was an increase in the homicide rate in Argentina, something Fleitas associates with factors such as increased drug trafficking in the country and the country's 2001 economic crisis.

Based on data from the Ministry of Health (2009), Fleitas shows that between 1997 and 2008, there were 38,901 firearm related deaths in Argentina: 10,663 suicides, 25,761 homicides, and 2,477 fatal accidents. In the same period, 5,085 women were murdered in Argentina, 56% with firearms. Fleitas assesses the first stage of the plan as successful, although he says that there is room for improvement. "There should be greater involvement of churches, which have an important role in Argentina, integration of the provinces and a greater awareness-raising campaign," he says.

The APP director also says financial incentives should be a highlight of the program in Argentina. Compensation for the delivery of weapons was high and collection was simple. Important factors that can determine the success of the plan include: the anonymity of delivery (RENAR only registers the weapon) and the speed of proceedings. It is estimated that after the gun is destroyed, the hand-in takes about 10 minutes. That's the amount of time it takes for a weapon to be taken out of circulation in Argentina.

Translated by Danielle Renwick