Brazil Weighs a National Gun Ban

Supporters of a ban do not claim that outlawing the sale of guns and ammunition would put a stop to violence. Instead, they say the initial aim is to reduce the huge number of guns flooding the country of 186 million people. An estimated 17.5 million guns are currently in Brazil, about 90 percent in civilian hands and half of them illegal.

An analysis of the guns used in crimes and seized by police from 1953 to 2003 showed that 80 percent were pistols and revolvers, only 33 percent of them legally registered.

"In Rio alone, there's a gun stolen once every five hours," said Josephine Bourgois, an arms control researcher with Viva Rio, an anti-gun organization that conducted the analysis. "By reducing the overall number of guns in circulation, we'll be able to decrease the number that migrate from law-abiding citizens and end up in the hands of criminals."

Early public opinion polls show that the argument has impressed the public, with more than 70 percent of respondents saying they support the ban. Paulo Amendoim, president of Rocinha's resident association and host of a weekly community radio program, said he thinks most will vote for the ban, even though they do not expect it to solve their problems.

"I always talk about it on my radio program," he said. "I think . . . it's going to pass."

Many opponents reluctantly agree with that prediction. In a shopping mall in the beachside neighborhood of Copacabana, the doors of the Guns & Security shop have been locked for the past week. The owner, Cirme Carvelho Alvim, said he stopped buying guns two weeks ago, figuring it was a waste to invest more in a business that might be forced to close within a month.

"Criminals don't buy guns from shops like mine," said Alvim, reached at a telephone number he had taped to his darkened shop window. He said most of his customers are police officers and retired military members. Criminals "smuggle their guns from other countries," he said. "Brazil's borders are too big, and the police can't stop that."

Reinaldo do Souza, 58, stopped by Alvim's store to browse, not knowing it was closed. The retired military man said he kept a gun and two big dogs at home for security.

"Any time I hear the dogs bark, I get my gun," he said. "The problem is not whether people have or don't have guns. . . . No one I know would buy a gun legally to commit a crime. The gun ban won't do anything to help decrease crime because criminals will still be able to get their guns without a problem. They can just go to the border of Paraguay. You can get a bazooka there if you want one."

The same points are being made by the ban's organized opponents, a coalition of legislators and groups representing gun dealers and manufacturers. When the ban was proposed in 2003, opponents invited a representative from the U.S. National Rifle Association to Sao Paulo to speak about strategy.

"It's already very difficult to buy a gun in Brazil," said Flavio Bolsonaro, a representative in Rio's state legislature who is leading a local drive against the ban. "If a citizen can go through all the steps necessary to buy and register a gun here, then it's his right to defend himself."

Do Espirito Santo, who realizes that many of her neighbors will vote for the ban, said she has decided to vote against it. She said she hates the culture of guns and would love to see them disappear, but doesn't think the ban would reduce their presence in her neighborhood. She also fears it would increase the black-market gun trade.

For her own protection, do Espirito Santo keeps a long knife hidden in a corner of her living room. She said she doesn't want a gun, because the police might take it if they knew, and the drug dealers might become suspicious of her.

For now, in communities like Rocinha, that is what passes for gun control.