In the three months since his inauguration, Brazil’s leftist president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has reversed the relaxed gun laws implemented by his conservative predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro.

This includes suspending new firearm registrations and limiting the number of guns an individual can own to three from six. However, the challenging part lies ahead: persuading people to relinquish their weapons, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Currently, approximately three million guns are registered for civilian use in Brazil, with over half, 1.6 million, being acquired during Bolsonaro’s four-year term in office, which ended in 2022.

This increase happened in a country that has traditionally enforced strict controls on civilian firearms ownership, according to estimates from the Igarapé Institute, a Brazilian think tank that analyzed army and police data, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Despite the fact that the Workers’ Party, led by da Silva, has regained control, many Brazilian gun owners are opposed to giving up their firearms in response to the government’s crackdown.

Written by staff