Research at the Library of Congress reveals that the Brazilian government has broad powers to regulate arms, and “handling, trading or possession of materials for the production of weapons without a license” is illegal. Brazil law stiffened in 2003 “to regulate the registration, possession and sale of firearms and ammunition” and foster “the disarmament of the society.”
If gun control works, then Brazil should be a gun violence utopia. Severe restrictions on gun ownership have been in place for more than a decade: By now, data should reflect the expected decline in gun violence.
Only it doesn’t. The United Nations reports that 42,000 Brazilians were killed with firearms in 2012 alone, equating to 115 deaths per day. Citing Daily Telegraph research, Brazil’s gun death rate of 22 per 100,000 population is 4.5 times the U.S. rate.
Perhaps we’ve had enough time to see the effects of “the disarmament of the society,” after all.
