PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: Monday 24 October 2005

Campaigners for gun control in Brazil and around the world today expressed disappointment at the result of Brazil’s gun ban referendum in which 64% of the population voted No to banning the sale of guns and ammunition.

‘The financial and marketing power of the gun lobby and the gun industry in Brazil won in the end,’ said Rebecca Peters, Director of the International Action Network on Small Arms. ‘We are disappointed at this lost opportunity to take a dramatic stand against gun violence, but we know the country’s strict new guns laws will continue to help save lives.’

The result is a victory for the financial and marketing power of the gun lobby and the gun industry. In the last 3 weeks before the referendum, Brazil’s election law required that each side be allocated equal air-time to promote their arguments. The pro-gun lobby used that period to run a slick, professional and misleading campaign of TV propaganda for the No vote. By contrast, the Yes vote depended on thousands of volunteers campaigning on the streets, but had very little money to produce TV ads.

The referendum was one of the measures contained in a tough national gun law introduced in December 2003, which made it illegal to carry guns, imposed tighter restrictions for obtaining a gun, and stiffened penalties for using or owning guns illegally. In 2004, 3200 fewer people died from gunshot wounds, a drop of 8% and the first decrease in 13 years.

‘We will keep fighting to prevent gun deaths,’ said Jessica Galeria of the NGO Viva Rio, an IANSA member that campaigned for the ban. ‘Most Brazilians do not own guns and do not believe guns make a household safer. But the No campaign exploited people’s fears: that police cannot protect them; that the government was trying to take away their “rights”.’

The pro-gun lobby claims that if the sale of guns is banned, only criminals will have guns. But the fact is that the majority of crime guns were originally legally owned.

The Brazilian referendum was the first time any country has put its national gun laws to a popular vote. Brazil has the highest number of gun deaths in the world, around 38,000 a year – or more than 100 every day. This is a higher rate than in many conflict zones. It is also the second largest producer of guns in the hemisphere.

Contact: UK: Anthea Lawson +44 (0)20 7065 0875 or +44 (0)7900 242869
Brazil: Jessica Galeria +55 21 2555 3750 or +55 21 8128 8808