{"id":37570,"date":"2022-05-17T13:49:36","date_gmt":"2022-05-17T13:49:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/?post_type=litigiopt&p=37570"},"modified":"2023-04-20T19:10:38","modified_gmt":"2023-04-20T19:10:38","slug":"adi-3112-the-constitutionality-of-the-disarmament-act","status":"publish","type":"litigiopt","link":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/litigiopt\/adi-3112-the-constitutionality-of-the-disarmament-act\/","title":{"rendered":"ADI-3112: the constitutionality of the Disarmament Act"},"content":{"rendered":"

In December 2003, Brazil passed the Disarmament Act (Law 10,826\/2003), which created strict penalties for crimes such as illegal possession and trafficking of guns and established more restrictive rules for the purchase and possession of weapons and ammunition. The objective: to reduce the number of guns in circulation and rates of violence. At the time, the country had an average of 46,000 gun victims per year, which represented 11% of all firearm-related deaths in the world (the country had 2.8% of the global population).<\/span><\/p>\n

Less than a month after the Act came into effect, the Brazilian Labor Party (PTB) filed an ADI (Direct Action of Unconstitutionality) in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the law and calling for its repeal. The party claimed that the Presidency of the Republic had usurped the powers of the Legislative branch and that the text violated the right to property and to self-defense.<\/span><\/p>\n

Conectas, the Sou da Paz Institute and the Viva Rio organization were admitted to the case as amicus curiae. They defended that the federal government\u2019s restriction on gun ownership is legitimate and does not constitute a usurpation of powers because it deals with an issue that requires uniformity among states and because it regulates the activity of the Federal Police on matters with interstate and international repercussions.<\/span><\/p>\n

The organizations also argued that the Act addresses social concerns and represents a major achievement for peace and an end to violence. They said the large number of firearms in circulation in Brazil is closely related to murder rates and to organized crime, to the extent that Brazil is one of the countries with the highest number of firearms deaths in the world. According to the organizations, the average person who carries a gun is more likely to be a victim of murder and to commit a murder.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cInvoking the interest of being armed based on the right to life and safety (\u2026) is a contradiction. Although intuitively one might think that guns increase safety and protect life, the facts demonstrate the opposite. Guns only enhance fatal outcomes to conflicts that necessarily exist within any community. Firearms not only reduce public safety, but they also increase the possibility that their owner \u2013 or those who live with them \u2013 become victims of the fatal violence that is inherent in them,\u201d reads an excerpt from the brief presented by the organizations.<\/span><\/p>\n

In May 2007, the Disarmament Act was declared constitutional by the Supreme Court. One of the main reasons for the decision was the recognition that the federal government has the authority to legislate on matters related to the right to life and security of the people. The ruling also considers that public security should be understood not only as a right of citizens, but also as a duty of the State.<\/span><\/p>\n

Technical information: <\/b><\/h2>\n

Case:<\/b> ADI-3112<\/span>
\n<\/span>Court: <\/b>Supreme Court <\/span>
\n<\/span>Status:<\/b> Court rules Disarmament Act constitutional<\/span><\/p>\n

Procedure:<\/b><\/p>\n

    \n
  • 12\/22\/2003 \u2013 Enactment of the Disarmament Act<\/span><\/li>\n
  • 1\/16\/2004 \u2013 Initial petition<\/span><\/li>\n
  • 11\/16\/2006 \u2013 The three ADIs 3137, 3198 and 3263 are condensed into ADI-3112 as they address the same issue<\/span><\/li>\n
  • 5\/2\/2007 \u2013 Judgment<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>
    <\/div>","protected":false},"featured_media":20970,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"temaltigio":[12276],"categoria_litigio":[],"class_list":["post-37570","litigiopt","type-litigiopt","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","temaltigio-confronting-institutional-violence"],"acf":{"subtitle-pt":"Brazilian Labor Party challenges authority of the federal government to legislate on the regulation of guns and ammunition","links_para_referencia":[{"titulo-referencia":"Disarmament Act","arquivo_referencia":false,"link_externo":"http:\/\/www.planalto.gov.br\/ccivil_03\/leis\/2003\/l10.826.htm"}],"noticias":{"noticia1":{"ID":28458,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2021-02-16 11:43:32","post_date_gmt":"2021-02-16 11:43:32","post_content":"\u201cI\u2019m arming the public because I don\u2019t want a dictatorship, we can\u2019t wait any longer. Anyone who doesn\u2019t agree with my platforms of family, country, an armed populace, freedom of expression and the free market is in the wrong government\u201d.\r\n\r\nThe statement above, made by President Jair Bolsonaro at a cabinet meeting in April 2020 \u2013 a video of which was made public by the Supreme Court \u2013 makes clear the dangerous and undemocratic aspirations of the government by undermining the Disarmament Act.\r\n\r\nSince taking office in 2019, Bolsonaro\u2019s plans to arm the population have made strides in Brazil. The latest move came on the evening of February 12, right before the Carnival holiday, when the government published four federal decrees in an extra issue of the Federal Gazette<\/strong> making it easier for people to buy guns and ammunition.\r\n\r\nIn the first two years of this government, there have been 10 decrees, 14 ministerial orders, two legislative bills and one resolution on the topic.\u00a0Between December 2018 and December 2020, Brazil saw a 65% increase in gun ownership<\/strong>, according to a survey by the newspaper O Globo<\/strong> in partnership with the Igarap\u00e9 and Sou da Paz institutes.\r\n\r\nThis time, the measures included an update of the list of products controlled by the Army. No longer included in this category are bullets, machinery and presses for reloading ammunition, magazines and telescopic sights. Moreover, the limit on gun purchases by so-called CACs (hunters, marksmen and collectors) without the express authorization of the Army has risen to 60 for marksmen, 30 for hunters and 10 for collectors. Citizens without licenses can also purchase up to six guns, or eight for judges, public prosecutors, members of the federal, state or district police and prison officers and guards, among other measures.\r\n\r\nAs pointed out by the lawyer Gabriel Sampaio, coordinator of the program to Combat Institutional Violence at Conectas Human Rights, the relaxation of gun control is associated with an increase in the number of violent deaths in Brazil. According to the 14th Annual Report on Brazilian Public Security<\/strong>, published by the Brazilian Public Security Forum, there were 25,712 violent deaths between January and June 2020 \u2013 an increase of 7% from the previous year.\r\n\r\n\u201cProportionally speaking, based on data, those most affected by the increase in the circulation of guns are black people, in particular young black youth,\u201d said Sampaio. According to the latest edition of the Atlas of Violence (2020), black people represented 75.7% of the victims of all homicides in the country in 2018<\/strong>. Furthermore, said Sampaio, access to guns is also identified with certain groups. We know who are buying these guns: in addition to CACs, we are talking about people with a higher purchasing power,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\nAccording to the lawyer, pressure from civil society is essential to prevent these gun policies. \u201cThey are abusive decrees that are outside the purview of the Executive branch. It needs to be widely debated with society and the Legislature is a place for this debate to take place,\u201d he said. \u201cMaking gun control more flexible at a time when Brazil is going through the biggest pandemic in recent history is a sign of the necropolitics that have underpinned government actions, a total lack of commitment to life. This is the most shocking aspect of the publication of these decrees.\u201d","post_title":"The necropolitics behind the arming of the population in Brazil","post_excerpt":"Just before Carnival, Jair Bolsonaro issued four decrees that permit an increase in the circulation of guns and ammunition","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-necropolitics-behind-the-arming-of-the-population-in-brazil","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2021-04-01 12:17:15","post_modified_gmt":"2021-04-01 12:17:15","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/noticias\/the-necropolitics-behind-the-arming-of-the-population-in-brazil\/","menu_order":1384,"post_type":"noticia","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},"noticia2":false,"noticia3":false}},"yoast":{"focuskw":"ADI-3112","title":"","metadesc":"Brazilian Labor Party challenges authority of the federal government to legislate on the regulation of guns and ammunition","linkdex":"57","metakeywords":"","meta-robots-noindex":"","meta-robots-nofollow":"","meta-robots-adv":"","canonical":"","redirect":"","opengraph-title":"","opengraph-description":"","opengraph-image":"","twitter-title":"","twitter-description":"","twitter-image":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/litigiopt\/37570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/litigiopt"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/litigiopt"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"temaltigio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/temaltigio?post=37570"},{"taxonomy":"categoria_litigio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categoria_litigio?post=37570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}