Brazil seeks to copy US gun culture

[ipm_zipedia]

Yes, I find it curious that gun control advocates can't seem to comprehend that, other than a few instances, guns in the hands of good guys are a positive step. For every case they bring up of someone accidentally shooting another, there is at least one, if not more, cases of good guys deterring crime and/or protecting themselves and/or others.

I lived for many years in an area where guns were pretty much banned, and the law stated if an intruder entered your home, you had to do everything possible to escape your own home, before harming the intruder. The only people allowed to have loaded guns there or carry a gun were those with money and connections, who were able to show cause to need one, such as a (connected) business owner. I totally disagreed with that, and that's a major reason why I moved away from the area. In my opinion, if I'm going to have a gun in my home, it will be loaded. I don't want to be fumbling in the dark to load a gun if I'm faced with an intruder.

I don't care if someone is afraid of guns, and have no problem with anyone like that not having a gun. I'm not trying to force anyone to have a gun that they're not comfortable having. I don't care if they ban guns from their homes, but this is America, and they will not deny me my constitutional right to have guns, nor to protect myself or my loved ones. In my opinion, the 2nd amendment is one of, if not the most, important of all of our constitutional rights. It wasn't put in place to address the issue of hunting. It was put in place to address the issue of tyranny, and to protect citizens from government overreach.

With the increase in not only crime in general, but violent crime in particular, I think it's every person's job and duty to fight back, and help restore order and safety, since the government appears unable to do so.

You couldn't have said it better, and I'm glad there's a fellow American on this board who agrees with me. Gun laws only deter citizens from fighting back, not the other way around. There was even a case where a Californian advocate for banning assault weapons was caught trafficking firearms. Really hard for the Anti-Gun crowd to handle that incident I'm sure.

 

[madetofly]

Brazilian here, I'm going to try to give you an idea of how things are here. First you need South America tends to have left leaning governments, and as you know, and they normally don't like the idea of people having firearms. Since 2002, the political party that started to run the government has many of its politicians - including the current president - used to fight the military government in the 70's, so they aren't very big fans of the army or the police itself. Third, it is a very corrupt government, so it's not good for them to have good law enforcers. Everything I pointed out, leads to what is happening. It's easier to buy an illegal weapon than a legal one, less than 10% of homicide cases are solved, police is not well prepared, receive very low wages - 1000$ - and every time one of them do a mistake, media show it for days, decreasing their moral. Now, as a civilian, if a robber, not armed with a fire weapon, gets into your house and you kill him, chances are you are going to jail, if he is armed, you will likely have spend quite a lot of money with lawyers, but if a robber kills you, well, less than 10% of homicide cases are solved so... And it's not over, thanks to media propaganda, guns have a pretty bad reputation here, that plus the sensation that all the time, because of something insignificant, someone kill somebody, like when someone steals somebody's boyfriend or girlfriend. But people mentality seems to be change, I always agreed with the fact of people having guns, and now many other people seem to be agreeing with it too.

 

[ipm_zipedia]

Brazilian here, I'm going to try to give you an idea of how things are here. First you need South America tends to have left leaning governments, and as you know, and they normally don't like the idea of people having firearms. Since 2002, the political party that started to run the government has many of its politicians - including the current president - used to fight the military government in the 70's, so they aren't very big fans of the army or the police itself. Third, it is a very corrupt government, so it's not good for them to have good law enforcers. Everything I pointed out, leads to what is happening. It's easier to buy an illegal weapon than a legal one, less than 10% of homicide cases are solved, police is not well prepared, receive very low wages - 1000$ - and every time one of them do a mistake, media show it for days, decreasing their moral. Now, as a civilian, if a robber, not armed with a fire weapon, gets into your house and you kill him, chances are you are going to jail, if he is armed, you will likely have spend quite a lot of money with lawyers, but if a robber kills you, well, less than 10% of homicide cases are solved so... And it's not over, thanks to media propaganda, guns have a pretty bad reputation here, that plus the sensation that all the time, because of something insignificant, someone kill somebody, like when someone steals somebody's boyfriend or girlfriend. But people mentality seems to be change, I always agreed with the fact of people having guns, and now many other people seem to be agreeing with it too.

Thank you so much for your valuable insight, and I'm sorry that you have to experience these issues first hand. Although I live in a very stable area, I've seen countless videos of gunfights and massacres of Brazil. It seems like it's the most effective counter argument to gun control laws ever.

 

[madetofly]

Thank you so much for your valuable insight, and I'm sorry that you have to experience these issues first hand. Although I live in a very stable area, I've seen countless videos of gunfights and massacres of Brazil. It seems like it's the most effective counter argument to gun control laws ever.

Yes, there are many cases of massacres here. I'm guessing you are from US, so the contrast when it comes to law is big. I consider myself a lucky guy, I never got robbed, but I take precautions and I also don't live in cities like San Paulo or Rio, they are usually the worst. Now about the argument, yes, it does seem like it, but since pretty much all politicians are left-leaning, they don't want people to have guns, and they can pay for private security. Another problem is that criminals are treated as victims of society, there's a big bunch of ONG and human rights organizations, but they all do it because they receive a lot of money from the government. So if you commit a crime here, there's good chances you will get away with it. Just to give you an idea, I live in a small town, 17.000 people, once a farmer killed a criminal that was trying to rob him, he went to jail, until people started to protest on the streets.

 

[Jason76]

Iv'e not seen that banning guns has reduced crime in truly violent nations. On the other hand, certain developed nations like Japan or Iceland have very little need for gun laws. Of course, any nation with poverty is going to have quite a bit of violence due to the situation of theft and robbery. In other cases, like in the US, the prevalence of drug addiction is also a major cause for crime. Finally, terrorism and school shootings have turned formerly peaceful places into war zones in need of an armed population.

 

[explorerx7]

These are the type of response we get when official law enforcement agencies are unable effectively institute law and order. Allowing more legal guns into society will not necessarily resonate into a more tenable crime situation. If a person has a gun and someone who is going to try to take their life know about the weapon, all the potential killer has to do is to attack when the person with the weapon is unaware. Therefore, guns do not guarantee total safety

 

[remnant]

Allowing gun ownership in Brazil appears not as a luxury as in the US but out of necessity, even desperation. There is need to distribute coercive powers evenly in the population. There is likely to be a spike of murders in the initial stages of the initiative but these statistics will taper over time. There would be an unwritten rule of mutually assured destruction on the part of criminal gangs and civilian defence forces and the latter will eventually loose in any tug of war.

 

[vash]

The gun ownership itself does not affect the level of crime rate. It is all in people's head.
If you think wide spread gun ownership will fix Brazil's crime rate, just take a look at various African countries. As well as some Middle East countries. At some parts of the world, AK-47 is one of the wedding gifts. So how did it turn out for them? Lower crime rate? Safer to walk on the streets? Nada! The place with high crime rate will stay high. The place with unstable societies are still unstable... if not more unstable with more armed militia groups challenge the government authority.

Guns can't fix anything, nor screw up anything. Everything is about people and what's in their head...

 

[vash]

I need to add that, just take a look at within the US. Even in the same state and city, different neighborhoods have different crime rate under the same firearm laws. Some of the difference is rather large. If the same availability of firearms can result in the same crime rate, then I am sure every country would have tried to use it to fix their problems. It is obviously not the case.

 

[djordjem87]

This sounds as a potential civil war and even if they make this law they should really wait after the Olympic Games. Brazil is one of the most dangerous countries in the world but I am not sure that American model is what they need since United States haven't made these laws for the same reason Brazil wants. It is just a part of their so called culture, which is totally idiotic as the whole country is, no offence please, and I think that in Brazil it would be different.

 

[ally79]

I think the Brazilians should be allowed to have guns. In fact, I think every law abiding adult citizen around the world should be allowed to own a gun if they choose. The bad guys already have weapons, lets give the good guys a fighting chance. Everyone has the right to defend their life and the lives of their family regardless of what their idiotic government has to say about it.

 

[vash]

I think the Brazilians should be allowed to have guns. In fact, I think every law abiding adult citizen around the world should be allowed to own a gun if they choose. The bad guys already have weapons, lets give the good guys a fighting chance. Everyone has the right to defend their life and the lives of their family regardless of what their idiotic government has to say about it.

Yeah, sure the good guys will get more guns. So will the bad guys. "9 guns and 600 rounds of ammunition per year". That is a lot of weapons. Why would any civilian keep buying 9 guns every year? This rule will just make it easier for criminal organizations to stockpile weapons. It will also be easier for lone criminal to use and discard weapons after every crime.

Some of the low crime rate countries have no civilian ownership of firearms. So the crime rate and the firearms are not related at all. More guns in an already violent society will not change for the better.