Brazil’s non-second amendment

mid-afternoon on Monday, the 24th of October 2005 by Chad

Statistically, Brazil is one of the most violent places on Earth. Last year, 36,000 people were killed with guns - more than in any other country.

And yet the Brazilian people have voted in a referendum to reject a proposal to ban the sale of firearms.

So what happened? To outsiders, this referendum looked like a no-brainer.

In a country where one person is killed with a gun every 15 minutes, surely the public would vote in favour of an outright ban on gun sales?

Wrong. By a resounding 64% to 36%, Brazilians decided to keep the gun shops open. The result was more decisive than any poll had predicted.

Essentially the people saw this as the government taking away their civil rights.
And that is incredibly true. However the Brazilian constitution does not mention any right to bear arms.
But just because the document does not grant you every right does not mean it exists. Any democratic government must exist only through the will of the people it governs.
And in this case, the people made its will known.