Brazil's gun death rate has dropped 18% following the introduction of a new gun law in 2003, according to a joint study by the Ministries of Health and Justice. The Disarmament Statute was enacted in 2003, and by 2006 the gun death rate had dropped from 22 to 18 deaths per 100 000 people each year.
Brazil suffers the largest number of gun deaths of any country, and even after the drop in gun deaths, 34 648 people were killed by gunshot in 2006. However, if the gun laws had not been introduced, the report estimates this total would have been 45 745.
The authors compared the actual rate of gun deaths with the rate that would have been expected without the legal reforms. From this, they calculated that 23 961 lives have been saved due to impact of gun legislation and other complementary actions by government and organised civil society.
'Brazil's gun strategy is working; it is saving lives and preventing suffering for many thousands of families. This is further evidence that countries can reduce the gun violence that is crippling their people and economies,' said Rebecca Peters, Director of IANSA. The Brazilian success story featured prominently in IANSA's presentation to the First Committee of the UN General Assembly on 26 October, resulting in great interest from Member States who wanted to know how the reductions in gun deaths had been achieved.
The cooperation between government and civil society to reduce gun violence in Brazil has resulted in a comprehensive program of preventative measures:
• stronger legislation including tougher licensing requirements and a ban on carrying guns
• establishment of a central computerised firearms register
• a firearm buyback program that destroyed 460,000 weapons
• an extensive public awareness program
• security sector reform
The tougher standards for gun possession and increased public awareness of the risks of gun possession meant that gun sales had dropped 92% by 2006.
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Sources: 'Deaths by Firearms in Brazil 1979-2003' (UNESCO 2006); 'Caem as mortes por arma de fogo' (Ministério da Saúde 2007).