Brazil: Bolsonaro Backs Down on Weapons Decree, Proposes 3 More

Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, announced Tuesday that he was backing down from his weapons decree that sought to make firearms more readily available to the public. However, he proposed three other orders regarding gun access in Brazil, hoping they will be congressionally approved.

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Brazil: Senate Rejects Bolsonaro's Decree Easing Gun Control

Bolsonaro first proposed his decree last March that would have allowed much of the public to own long-range rifles. Lawyers, bailiffs, owners and managers of shooting clubs, residents in rural areas, certain journalists and truck drivers, among others, would have been allowed to carry firearms in Brazil with shooting power never before allowed to civilians. However, the measure became increasingly narrowed over the past several months after it was rejected by the legislator and public until the president revoked the proposal Tuesday, to the surprise of even members of his own cabinet.

The former military captain and now commander in chief isn’t leaving behind his plan to increase public access to guns throughout the country.

The executive published three new decrees regarding firearms and their sales also introduced Tuesday are meant to accommodate the Senate that last week voted 47-28 to approve a committee proposal to annul Bolsonaro’s then-latest version of the decree. The main reason: the presidential mandate tried to override the nation's constitution, which first needs legislative approval, making it unconstitutional.

The government said it introduced new measures "based on the questions raised before the judicial and legislative branches and society in general."

Member of the president’s administration, Onyx Lorenzoni, said Tuesday who indicated that the newest iterations of gun control address the registration, possession and sale of firearms and ammunition in the country.

The president says he took legislators’ and governors’ critiques into consideration while working up the new measures that will still allow rural residents to possess hand guns.

According to official figures, Brazil recorded 65,602 homicides in 2017, an average of 31.6 violent deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.