“The start of the electoral campaign exacerbates the risk of political violence,” which “makes the need to restrict access to weapons and ammunition extremely and exceptionally urgent,” Justice Edson Fachin wrote.
Fachin said he made the decision “in light of recent and unfortunate episodes of political violence,” without specifying whether he was referring to local events such as the July shooting murder of a Workers’ Party (PT) treasurer by a Bolsonaro police officer, or even the attack on Thursday against the Vice President of Argentina Cristina Kirchner.
According to the court, Fachin’s decision establishes that only “people who concretely demonstrate their effective need” can have weapons, one of the rules that Bolsonaro, a weapons enthusiast, relaxed by decree.
It also determines that “the purchase of firearms for restricted use should only be authorized” for reasons of “public security or national defense, not based on personal interest”, as occurs with some Hunters, Sports Shooters and Collectors (CAC, for its acronym in Portuguese) who can buy assault rifles.
This category, which jumped from 117,000 to more than 673,000 registrations during the Bolsonaro government, is of particular concern to security specialists, who fear episodes of violence as the polarized election on October 2 approaches, which opposes Bolsonaro and the former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Bolsonaro’s constant questioning of the electronic voting system raises fears that his followers will reject an eventual defeat and replicate scenes such as the invasion of the United States Capitol in 2021, after Donald Trump lost at the polls.
Debate
Although it is not retroactive, yesterday’s decision has immediate effect until the plenary session of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) concludes its deliberation on the constitutionality of the decrees, suspended for a year.
It is an “important” decision that “indicates an understanding on the part of the STF that weapons can be a destabilizing element in the elections,” said lawyer Bruno Langeani, a member of the NGO Instituto Sou da Paz.
“It does not prohibit the purchase or carrying (of weapons), but rather reaffirms the requirements of the law, such as the requirement to prove the need or to limit the use of weapons restricted to security forces,” he added.
Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court last week restricted the carrying of weapons in polling stations, in another sign of concern about possible episodes of violence.
Source: Ambito
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