In 2014, the Global Study on Homicide by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) positioned Latin America first in the regional classification of murders, both in absolute numbers as in relation to its population. Today, the region hosts 43 of the 50 cities with the highest rates of homicide in the world. Brazilian cities make up half of all cities in the ranking, partly due to the countryâs large population (Muggah and Aguirre 2018). Almost 64 thousand homicides are committed throughout Brazil each year and over 80% of Brazilians believe that they are at risk of being murdered. But Brazilians are not the only Latin Americans 1 scared by lethal violence . In fact, Brazilâs national homicide rate only supposes the sixth highest in the region. National homicide rates in El Salvador , Honduras , Jamaica or Venezuela double, triple or quadruple Brazilian national murder rates. Among cities, Caracas and San Salvador are some of the most extreme examples. With 120 and 137 murders per every 100 thousand inhabitants in 2017, their homicide rates are over 20 times higher than the global average (IgarapĂ© Institute 2017; GDS 2015).
These numbers are the consequence of a dramatic rise in criminal violence since the turn of the century, translating into more than 2.5 million deaths since the year 2000. At present, there are roughly 400 murders each day in Latin America, circa 140 thousand per year (Muggah and Aguirre 2018). Moreover, the regional homicide rates are increasing at a time when murders are declining virtually everywhere else. Such numbers are not a novelty, however. The regionâs recent history is particularly violent. Nonetheless, current manifestations are more pluriform and spread out among the population, subjecting not just the poor to the threat of violence, but all social groups and classes. Understandably, most Latin Americans have become accustomed to a relentless perception of fear, frequently manifested in a collective psychosis regarding public security. Since it supposes the main public concern of its citizens, it is fair to say that criminal violence is defining the region in the twenty-first century.
This book is about the role that guns play in this epidemic of violence and about the policies that try to regulate their use in Latin America. By guns I refer to portable weapons that shoot projectiles from a metal tube, propelled at high speed by expanding gas that is generated by the explosion of gunpowder in a confined space. Firearms or small arms 2 are more precise terms for our purposes, so I will also use these terms interchangeably throughout the book. In the regional context, the most common are revolvers, pistols, rifles, and shotguns, but I will also use these terms to refer to rifles and carbines, sub-machine guns, and light and heavy machine guns. These are used by private citizens as collectibles or for self-defense , hunting or target shooting, but can also be acquired and used for criminal purposes. Guns are also carried by police , private security agents, and other armed security forces in their line of duty.
For the sake of clarity, let me be clear from the outset. I do not consider guns to be inherently bad nor do I think guns should be prohibited. I believe that with the proper training and under the right conditions, guns can be an effective instrument for personal defense against crime and even make the difference between life and death. Especially when states do not have the effective capacity to safeguard their citizens, as is the case in most parts of the region.
However, and beyond what anyone may think about the former, it is undeniable that guns are a fundamental enabler of violence , as their proliferation facilitates access to what are essentially highly lethal weapons. As such, guns are the preferred weapon of choice to commit murders in the region. In fact, their use as murder weapons is more frequent than anywhere else. In many countries of the region , gun homicides correspond to at least 80% of the total. 3 Furthermore, Latin America suffers 33% of the worldâs homicides despite hosting only 8% of its population and just 7% of its gun arsenals (Muggah and Aguirre 2018; Karp 2018). As a result, gun murders suppose the first cause of death for adolescent males in many countries of the region, outpacing accidental injuries, cancer, suicide, and other diseases.
A few specific examples may better show the dimension of the problem:
- Whereas guns are used to commit 10 percent of homicides in Oceania, 13 percent of homicides in Europe and 28 percent of homicides in Asia and Africa, 66 percent of homicides are carried out with guns in the Americas (UNODC 2014).
- Each day, more than 122 Brazilians lose their lives to guns, which is more than the average number of passengers that a full Boeing 737 can carry (Ipea and FBSP 2018).
- On average, each person in Venezuela would live nearly 16 months longer in the absence of gun violence (GDS 2015, 174).
- Most Latin American countries have homicide rates that are considered to be at epidemic levels by the World Health Organization.
- Faced in their home countries with extreme levels of homicide, forced recruitment into criminal gangs and death threats, more than 294.000 asylum seekers and refugees from the North of Central America were registered globally in 2017. This is sixteen times more people than at the end of 2011 (UNHCR 2018).
Despite these risks, public efforts to control gun proliferation and acquisition are not well known. This is partly because gun control is largely absent of the public and political debates in the region. In most countries, the specific issue is normally subsumed within general concerns over public security. In others, it gains public and political attention intermittently, mostly after episodes of extreme violence or high-profile murder cases. When it happens, gun violence turns into a matter of polarized debate for a couple of weeks but can hardly adhere the public and media attention for long. This is certainly not for lack of trying, however. There are usually groups that publicly advocate for stricter gun control. There are no strong gun cultures in the region either and nearly all states have committed themselves to international treaties on the matter. So, why is gun control not elevated to agenda status?
There are only very few exceptions in this regard. In Brazil, gun control has been a prominent topic of discussion for almost two decades. In fact, it was at the center of Jair Bolsonaroâs presidential campaign in 2018, because the new President pledged to abolish existing gun laws and liberalize their acquisition and use by civilians. At the time of this writing, it is still unclear what course the new government will take on the matter, but given the countryâs importance and that most guns in South America derive from Brazilian gun industries, it is undoubtedly a policy decision that will impact the entire region.
Be that as it may, this is only the last chapter of a longstanding political conflict in the country. Gun control first gained unusual attention in Brazil during the second half of the 1990s, when state and federal governments, legislators, advocacy groups, and the mass media engaged in an intense and ongoing public debate in favor and against the possession of guns by civilians. Its inclusion in the political agenda led to the approval of the Law nÂș 10.826 in 2003, which represented a paradigm shift on the matter. The so-called âDisarmament Statute â became the most comprehensive gun control policy in national history and one of the most far-reaching in the world. Among other measures, it prohibited the carry of firearms and strongly discouraged their possession and use among civilians. The Statuteâs most controversial aspect was related to the legislatorâs desire to implement a comprehensive ban on gun sales to civilians throughout the country.
Apart from its regional exceptionality, the Brazilian case is especially interesting for various reasons. First, because such an ambitious and progressive policy was approved in one of the most violent countries in the world, with a socially conservative society and a thriving weapons industry . Second, because the comprehensive ban on gun sales to civilians was decided on a national referendum , an instrument which had never been used in Brazil since the transition to democracy in 1988. This means that a specific security policy was put in the hands of the electorate, which in addition was not accustomed to direct forms of democracy. And if this was not enough, the result of the referendum contravened all expectations, which granted disarmament advocates an easy triumph. The ban was not authorized, resulting in a resounding defeat for its promoters.
Beyond the continuity or abolishment of the Disarmament Statute in the near future, the situation in Brazil contrasts sharply with that of most countries in the region. Uruguay illustrates this divergence and is more in line with the regional pattern. Despite an important increase in homicides in recent years and probably being the most heavily armed country in Latin America, gun proliferation never really caught the attention of the public...