Argentinean society wants more disarmament

Originally set to end the 11th of December, Argentina’s National Firearms Hand In Plan is expected to continue to 2009. Pressure by civil society organizations that make up the Argentinian Network for Disarmament, have resulted in mobilizations to ensure the campaign continues, having led the authorities to ask Congress to extend of the hand in period, established by law.

 Signed by Sergio Massa, Cabinet Secretary and the Minister of Justice, Aníban Fernandez, the bill is expected extend the gun hand in period for another year. The firearms hand in program was created by law 26,216 and submitted to the Argentine Congress. The hand in program has already been extended once by Decree 560, on April 3, 2008.

Carola Concaro, a member of Argentina’s Institute of Penal and Social Studies (Inecip) and also a member of the Argentinian Network for Disarmament, stated that the program had been conceived from the start as “a medium and not a goal in itself”.

Concaro states that withdrawing guns from circulation is, indisputably, a way to reduce preventable damage. “When society responds, it strengthens social commitment and invests in a different mode of conflict resolution,” she adds.

NGOs and the government were also happy with campaign results, and the response of the population. The Argentinian Presidency issued a statement directed at the Congress in which it requested an extension of the plan, in one excerpt it read “civil society has responded extremely satisfactorily to the initiative, there have been excellent results and they merit being continued.”

 
102 guns taken out of circulation

 
During its 349 days, the national campaign (inspired in the 2000 Mendoza Firearms Hand In Campaign), counted over 102 thousand firearms handed in, and approximately 720 thousand ammunition cartridges delivered to police precincts that belong to the National Arms Registry (Renar) and at the mobile stands of the Shooting Clubs of Nuñez, Quilmes and Lomas de Zamora.

 
According to Carola Concaro, “to work on this proposal means to develop public policy that allows us to guarantee an uninterrupted discussion of the foundations of conflicts in any society, the methodology for approaching violence in a democracy and a consensus that will not admit the use of violence as a response to conflicts.”

Enthusiasm for transforming the campaign into public policy is not limited to the ambit of NGOs. The government itself has shown it is optimistic and hopes that the campaign will be extended. Renar Director Andrés Meiszner stated that the disarmament plan was responsible for withdrawing 10% of the illegal guns in Argentina out of circulation.

Over half the guns handed in were unregistered

Meiszner conducted an initial evaluation of the types of weapons handed in. According to Meiszner, half the guns handed in by the population were unregistered. In the first eleven months of the campaign, approximately 53 thousand firearms were destroyed, or the equivalent to 172 guns a day, according to official sources.

 
The campaign allows for citizens to hand in guns voluntarily and anonymously, so that they may be destroyed in exchange for compensation. Campaign goals are to diminish the use and proliferation of guns, incidents with firearms, violent acts and crimes caused by the access and use of firearms, it is also a campaign goal to raise awareness of the risks involved with firearms and to strengthen a culture that does not use or carry guns.

Those who wish to hand in a gun, must do so at the Renar police stations at local municipalities. Compensations vary according to the type of weapon handed in: 100 Argentinian pesos (US$ 30) for low caliber weapons, such as revolvers, pistols and caliber .22 carabines; 450 argentine pesos (US$ 135) for 357 pistols or 7.64 caliber rifles.

 
 Compensation for ammunition handed is of five cents in Argentinian Peso for e .22 ammunition and 10 cents for other calibers.  Citizens are limited to handing in a maximum of 10 guns and one thousand cartridges of ammunition. The campaign offers amnesty to those who hand in guns whether legally or illegally owned.

The Argentinian Network for Disarmament issued a statement in which it asks Argentineans “to persist in the struggle for a society that is capable of solving its problems in a manner that is rational and respectful of human rights, and, thus, work towards state policy that approaches the problem of violence in all its complexity.”

 
Organizations thus try to inject new life in a program that centers solely on the collecting guns and ammunition, hoping to encourage authorities to widen the horizon of possible violence prevention measures.

NGOs recommend an immediate approval of the extension of the gun hand in campaign period, they ask for greater commitment on the part of the state to raising awareness and the promotion of a culture of peace, a new law of gun control law to prevent the proliferation and ill use of firearms, improvements in the Renar system incorporating external controls, and the establishment of minimal requirements for issuing permits to carry guns.

 
Organizations also demand of the Argentine government that it create an integrated management strategy to target the issue of gun violence.

Translated by Lis Horta Moriconi