What the article bellow doesn't say is, most people believe this "crime package" to be a sham, yet they won't get organized and fight for their rights (in all fairness, they just don't know how - there's no tradition of democracy in Brazil). Meanwhile, the leftist government promises to "educate" the population, so we can be convinced that "guns are bad".
The situation is hopeless, and I just want out of here.
Regards,
Leo Daher
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) - Marco Aurelio Sprovieri is the owner of
one of Sao Paulo's largest gun stores and cannot sell firearms.
"The government just declared my bankruptcy," Sprovieri said. As
part of a sweeping anti-crime package announced Tuesday, the government
issued a decree forbidding issuing gun permits for six
months in a nation where recent statistics say a killing takes place
every 13 minutes.
The decree, which went into effect Wednesday, in effect imposes a
nationwide ban on firearm sales, because nobody can buy a gun without a
permit.
"This is not a six-month ban," Sprovieri said by phone. "It's
going to last forever, because the government can and will renew the
decree until the law (on gun control) is passed."
"Our store, which first opened its doors for business 75 years
ago, will have to shut down. The government has wiped us out. It is
really absurd. Criminals don't buy their weapons in stores."
The decree suspends issuing of gun permits until Dec. 31, 2000,
and exempts only the armed forces, and federal, state and municipal law
enforcement agencies.
Norman Gall, executive director of the Fernand Braudel Institute of
World Economics, a Sao Paulo-based think tank that has studied violence,
agrees the decree "will have absolutely no impact on diminishing crime."
"Legally purchased weapons are not the problem," Gall said. "The
illegal ones, mostly bought on the contraband market are the problem."
He said the ban could even increase the demand for illegal weapons
"like prohibition did with booze in the United States."
"The ban may even increase crime rates because criminals could feel
bolder knowing law-abiding citizens are unarmed," he said.
Brazilians own an estimated eight million guns, of which about six
million are unregistered and mostly in the hands of criminals,
government figures say.
The government acted when it became aware that a gun control bill
being discussed in Congress could take several months before being
approved while the country was clamoring for action because of rampant
crime and recent violence.
"Society is demanding from all of us a quicker response," President
Fernando Henrique Cardoso said when he announced the National Security
Plan with the decree on gun permits.
"We could ask, who among us has not suffered because of violence?"
The National Security Plan aslo includes hiring 2,000 new federal
agents, providing better training and equipment for police forces and
building new prisons.
The 124-step, $1.7 million National Security Plan was announced a
week after a bus kidnapping that left a 20-year-old teacher and her
kidnapper dead.
The episode shocked viewers who followed the incident on live
television for four hours.
Brazil ranked fourth last year in kidnappings after Colombia, Mexico
and Russia.
The bill in Congress would restrict possession of firearms to the
armed forces, police, private security personnel, collectors and gun
clubs, people in rural areas, and private security agencies.
Everyone else would have 360 days to turn in their guns and
ammunition under the Congress bill. Those who return the guns will be
compensated, but the bill doesn't say by how much. Illegal
weapons would be confiscated.
The country's two biggest arms manufacturers - Rossi and Taurus
- would not immediately comment on the ban.
By Stan Lehman - AP writer
------------------
"Though the meek shall inherit the Earth, they won't keep it past Saturday night..."
The situation is hopeless, and I just want out of here.
Regards,
Leo Daher
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) - Marco Aurelio Sprovieri is the owner of
one of Sao Paulo's largest gun stores and cannot sell firearms.
"The government just declared my bankruptcy," Sprovieri said. As
part of a sweeping anti-crime package announced Tuesday, the government
issued a decree forbidding issuing gun permits for six
months in a nation where recent statistics say a killing takes place
every 13 minutes.
The decree, which went into effect Wednesday, in effect imposes a
nationwide ban on firearm sales, because nobody can buy a gun without a
permit.
"This is not a six-month ban," Sprovieri said by phone. "It's
going to last forever, because the government can and will renew the
decree until the law (on gun control) is passed."
"Our store, which first opened its doors for business 75 years
ago, will have to shut down. The government has wiped us out. It is
really absurd. Criminals don't buy their weapons in stores."
The decree suspends issuing of gun permits until Dec. 31, 2000,
and exempts only the armed forces, and federal, state and municipal law
enforcement agencies.
Norman Gall, executive director of the Fernand Braudel Institute of
World Economics, a Sao Paulo-based think tank that has studied violence,
agrees the decree "will have absolutely no impact on diminishing crime."
"Legally purchased weapons are not the problem," Gall said. "The
illegal ones, mostly bought on the contraband market are the problem."
He said the ban could even increase the demand for illegal weapons
"like prohibition did with booze in the United States."
"The ban may even increase crime rates because criminals could feel
bolder knowing law-abiding citizens are unarmed," he said.
Brazilians own an estimated eight million guns, of which about six
million are unregistered and mostly in the hands of criminals,
government figures say.
The government acted when it became aware that a gun control bill
being discussed in Congress could take several months before being
approved while the country was clamoring for action because of rampant
crime and recent violence.
"Society is demanding from all of us a quicker response," President
Fernando Henrique Cardoso said when he announced the National Security
Plan with the decree on gun permits.
"We could ask, who among us has not suffered because of violence?"
The National Security Plan aslo includes hiring 2,000 new federal
agents, providing better training and equipment for police forces and
building new prisons.
The 124-step, $1.7 million National Security Plan was announced a
week after a bus kidnapping that left a 20-year-old teacher and her
kidnapper dead.
The episode shocked viewers who followed the incident on live
television for four hours.
Brazil ranked fourth last year in kidnappings after Colombia, Mexico
and Russia.
The bill in Congress would restrict possession of firearms to the
armed forces, police, private security personnel, collectors and gun
clubs, people in rural areas, and private security agencies.
Everyone else would have 360 days to turn in their guns and
ammunition under the Congress bill. Those who return the guns will be
compensated, but the bill doesn't say by how much. Illegal
weapons would be confiscated.
The country's two biggest arms manufacturers - Rossi and Taurus
- would not immediately comment on the ban.
By Stan Lehman - AP writer
------------------
"Though the meek shall inherit the Earth, they won't keep it past Saturday night..."