Congress may allow explosion of access to weapons.

247 - Several proposals are currently being processed in the National Congress that would expand access to firearms for the population. These projects foresee the right to carry firearms for various professional categories, such as medical examiners for Social Security, court officers, socio-educational agents, port guards, municipal guards, and judicial evaluators. If approved, thousands of professionals could carry firearms.

Many of the proposals had been stalled and have recently resumed processing. Others were presented in the last few weeks. This is the case of a bill filed on October 5th by Senator Wilder Morais (PP-GO) whose objective is "to create the Statute of Armament in Brazil".

Morais' proposal follows the same lines as another bill in the Chamber of Deputies that revokes the Disarmament Statute. This proposal has already passed through a special committee and is awaiting a vote in the plenary session. Among other changes, it expands the professional categories with access to firearms, reduces the minimum age to own a firearm from 25 to 21 years, and makes possession permanent (without the need for revalidation).

Ivan Marques, executive director of the Sou da Paz Institute, states that, according to all victimization studies, the presence of a weapon in a conflict situation increases the chances of death for the citizen. He criticizes the strategy of arming the population as a solution to the security crisis and points out that the actions in Congress are related to next year's elections.

"In an opportunistic and irresponsible move, parliamentarians are embracing projects that attract attention and bring them closer to their electoral base, even if it means greater circulation of weapons at a time of security crisis," he states. 

PL 30/2007: Allows the carrying of firearms, even outside of work, for various categories, including medical experts of the Social Security system, tax auditors of the states and the Federal District, court officers, and public defenders. It passed the Chamber of Deputies and reached the Senate in 2007. In recent months, it has resumed its progress. The report recommending approval is in the CCJ (Committee on Constitution, Justice and Citizenship), where a request for review was made on the 28th of last month.

Bill 378/2017: Repeals the Disarmament Statute to create the Armament Statute in Brazil. Among other changes, it establishes 18 years as the minimum age to own a firearm (currently 25 years) and a "minimum validity" of 10 years for registration (currently five years). Introduced earlier this month, the bill is part of a package of related matters in the Senate's Constitution, Justice and Citizenship Committee.

The information is from the newspaper The Globe.