Have a gun? Give it up!

Latin America leads the world in complying United Nations Program of Action (PoA) recommendations and it is where gun control policies have seen most progress. Chile follows suit, entering the second phase of the voluntary gun hand in drive that has, to date, collected over six thousand guns handed in by its civilian population.

The Chilean voluntary gun collection campaign began December of 2006 and, in partnership with the Chile’s Sub-Office of the Interior, is now entering its second phase scheduled for late September or early October. “At this next stage, which ought to last three months, our goal is to reach at the very least, the same number of firearms collected in 2006, that is 6,012 guns,” said Lieutenant Colonel Guilhermo Cádiz Valenzuela, Chief of Gun Control at the General Department for National Mobilization (DGMN).

In Chile, one of the youngest democracies in Latin America, there are 741.271 legal guns, according to DGMN data. “It means that these guns are in circulation. The law allows us to have a registered gun at home, and of course, it is impossible to have records of illegal weapons,” said Valenzuela.

According to Juan Gómez from Chile’s chapter of Amnesty International, it is estimated that there are 200 thousand illegal guns. “The great majority of the weapons are in the hands of criminals,” he said.

Not reaching the general public

The campaign does not stipulate any reimbursements for guns handed in, nor are there any legal consequences for handing in illegal guns. Gómez however, believes that the government’s radio and press campaigns are not reaching the public.

“The issue of gun control in Chile is being given scant coverage by the mainstream media, and despite the fact that the government supports gun control programs that include human rights and international humanitarian law, it is not a priority in the executive nor is it in the legislative branch, risking the success of the entire program but for a few isolated events here and there,” said Gómez.

The guns handed in voluntarily are being destroyed. According to the DGMN the plan is to destroy the guns collected at a public event to be held in November, witnessed by members of the government, NGOs and the press.

Translated by Lis Horta Moriconi

Read Further:

The UN PoA

Read Further:

Dirección General de Movilización Nacional (In Spanish)