Fewer guns, fewer deaths

By Graciela Bittencourt and Shelley de Botton

This Thursday morning, April 7th, a young man, Wellington de Oliveira, age 23, entered Rio de Janeiro’s City School Tasso da Silveira in Realengo, located in West Rio, and committed a massacre never before seen in Brazil: 12 teenagers were killed and another 12 people were injured. He used two guns, one was a.32 caliber pistol stolen 18 years ago from a civilian, and the second a .38 caliber handgun with a scratched out identification number. The gunman used over 120 bullets.

In mourning for the victims of this tragedy, Viva Rio insists in calling attention to the need for greater state control over the firearms circulating in Brazil. Brazil’s gun control law known as the Estatuto do Desarmamento, a federal law that regulates the registration, ownership and gun and ammunition sales in the nation has established 15 requirements for gun ownership in Brazil.

However, according to Antonio Rangel Bandeira (photo), coordinator of Viva Rio’s Gun Control Program, the requirements are not being fully observed. “Brazilian law is very good, but it is not being enforced. It is easy to access guns. Stores are not being appropriately controlled by the competent authorities,” said Bandeira.

Colonel Ubiratan Angelo, coordinator of Viva Rio’s Human Security Program and former general commander of Rio de Janeiro’s Military Police force said that the despite its tremendous repercussions in public security, the tragic event could not have been averted by police action or by restricting access to the school. “Schools, especially public schools are democratic and communal. The heart of the problem lies in controlling the gun and ammunition in civilian hands. The event reinforces the need for a disarmament campaign,” said Col. Angelo.

Viva Rio gun control researcher Júlio César Purcena adds: “The massacre shows, tragically and harshly, that our problem with firearms has more to do with domestic than international controls. We have been insisting on this point for years. I hope that from now on the issue of domestic gun control is given at least as much attention in Brazil as the attention given the trafficking of rifles across the borders” said Purcena. Brazil is the country with the highest rate of deaths by firearms per hundred thousand inhabitants. Of these deaths, 90% are homicides, according to the Datasus.

According to a survey carried out by Viva Rio in partnership with the Justice Ministry there are today close to 16 million firearms circulating in Brazil, of which 7.6 million are illegal. Of this total, 14 million are in civilian hands, according to research developed by Viva Rio based on official sources.

The study further notes that Rio de Janeiro has 5.7% of the total guns circulating in civilian hands in Brazil, and 40% of Rio de Janeiro guns are illegally owned. Of the guns seized in Rio, 75.3% are handguns (revolvers and pistols) and 79.6% are deemed legal for civilian use. Close to 70% of the guns circulating in Brazil were produced domestically, which reinforces the need for internal controls stipulated in the Estatuto do Desarmamento.

Brazil’s Minister of Justice José Eduardo Cardozo announced that Brazil has adopted disarmament campaigns as state policy, to be held every year during the month of July. A national Disarmament Caravan will visit a number of state capitals to raise awareness of gun control issues across the nation.

Close to 500 thousand firearms were voluntarily handed in by the Brazilian population during the National Disarmament Campaign held between July 2004 and October 2005. According to the "Vidas poupadas – O Impacto do Desarmamento no Brasil" (“Lives Saved – the Impact of Disarmament in Brazil”) report issued by UNESCO, a drop in the number of guns circulating in Brazil saved the nation over five thousand lives, a 15.2% drop in the number of deaths by firearms in 2004 as compared with the previous year.

Read Further:

Arms Control in Brazil

In Portuguese:

Campanha de desarmamento será permanente

A rota das armas até o crime

Os caminhos e descaminhos das armas no Rio

Mortes reabrem debate sobre controle de armas

São Paulo segura e desarmada

Dossiê Controle de armas no Brasil