Brazil's gun control systems are inefficient, say political scientist Ilona Szabó, president of the Igarapé Institute, and lawyer Carolina Ricardo, executive director of the Sou da Paz ( I am for peace)**Institute, two of the main civil society organizations working in the field of public safety.
Both point to the precariousness of the Brazilian gun control system and to the dismantling of the Disarmament Statute, approved in 2003.
The weaknesses became even more evident, they argue, after the series of actions, by decree, by President Jair Bolsonaro that expanded civilians' access to weapons.
More than 40 acts of the Executive Branch have weakened the control [on guns]. Some examples are the fact that today there is a category of civilians with access to very high amounts of weapons", says Carolina.
There is no scientific evidence to show that arming the population can make a country safer," says Ilona. "On the contrary, the combination of the increase in the circulation of weapons and ammunition and the weakening of state control mechanisms is a setback for the safety of the Brazilian population."
Translated by Cassy Dias