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The number of firearms owned by private individuals grew by 241% in Brazil during the government of Jair Bolsonaro, according to data from the Brazilian Public Safety Yearbook, released on Tuesday.
In 2019, the year Bolsonaro came to power, there were 197,390 firearms registered held by private individuals, a number that by June 30 this year had soared to 673,818 registrations.
These figures correspond to the Army’s databases that include records of firearms for hunting, shooting, sporting activity and collection.
If these data are looked at together with those held by the National Weapons System (Sinarm), the number of firearms in the hands of private individuals surpassed those held by public bodies.
Of the 4.4 million firearms owned by private individuals in the South American giant, almost 2.9 million have active registrations, although 1,542,168 are circulating irregularly in the country.
“In the National Weapons System (Sinarm), for example, in 2021, of the 1,490,323 firearms with active registration, only 384,685 are linked to public agencies such as the civil, federal, highway and municipal police, in addition to institutions such as the Courts of Justice and the Public Prosecutor’s Office,” the report states.
Since coming to power on January 1, 2019, Bolsonaro has defended the right of ordinary citizens to carry firearms for self-defense.
The relaxation of the carrying and possession of firearms is one of the campaign promises of the president, who has the United States as its arms model.
Under Bolsonaro’s mandate, murders in Brazil fell to a 15-year low. During the terms of leftists Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, homicide rates averaged 30.3 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, while Brazil currently has a murder rate of 18.5 per 100,000 inhabitants.
At the same time, crime rates have also dropped dramatically in certain areas of the country. In Rio de Janeiro, crime figures have fallen by 18%.
