Shooting and explosions as Brazilian President’s colleague Jair Bolsonaro was arrested
2022.12.13 07:17
Shooting and explosions as Brazilian President’s colleague Jair Bolsonaro was arrested
Budrigannews.com – Roberto Jefferson, a seasoned politician and a close ally of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, made it abundantly clear that he was not going anywhere when four federal police officers arrived to arrest him.
He told them to “Run.” There will be harm to you.”
According to his testimony and that of the arresting officers, the former federal lawmaker then sprayed their armored car with over 50 shots from his Smith & Wesson 5.56 mm assault-style rifle and threw three adulterated stun grenades at the police. After an eight-hour standoff, two police officers were hospitalized with shrapnel wounds, and Jefferson only surrendered.
One of the most difficult obstacles facing Bolsonaro’s leftist rival, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, was exemplified by the high-profile shootout on Oct. 23, which occurred just one week before Bolsonaro lost his bid for reelection. The new president has promised to “disarm” a nation that is becoming increasingly gun-addicted and has made personal firearms a symbol of Bolsonaro’s conservative base.
“The case of Roberto Jefferson demonstrates how risky it is for civilians to possess high-caliber weapons. Bruno Langeani, an informal advisor to Lula’s transition team from the Sou da Paz Institute, stated, “It’s something that puts police and society at risk.”
Eight additional individuals working on or advising Lula’s transition team on strengthening gun control when he takes office on January 1 were interviewed by Reuters. They want to revoke dozens of executive orders Bolsonaro signed to loosen gun laws, which led to a surge in gun ownership. However, their plans are not finalized yet.
According to pollster Datafolha, in May, nearly three-quarters of Brazilians opposed Bolsonaro’s weakening of gun laws. According to sources, the priority will be to reimpose civilian prohibitions on certain high-caliber weapons, including Jefferson’s rifle.
In addition, they intend to make it harder to obtain brand-new firearms licenses and more costly and time-consuming to renew existing ones. They also said that the transition team is looking into ways to streamline army and federal police databases that are opaque.
But the easy part is that.
According to the Igarape and Sou da Paz institutes, there are approximately 1.9 million registered privately owned weapons in Brazil, up from approximately 695,000 when Bolsonaro was elected in 2018. According to transition team lawyer Gabriel Sampaio, reducing that vast stock of firearms, many of which are owned by fervent Bolsonaro supporters who despise Lula and question his election victory, will be “challenging.”
The political context is very different from Lula’s presidency from 2003 to 2010, when he enacted comprehensive gun laws to combat violent crime. A voluntary buy-back program that removed approximately 650,000 weapons from circulation was one of those measures.
According to transition sources, Lula’s team is currently discussing an obligatory buy-back to hand over assault rifles to security forces from civilian hands.
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According to Langeani of the Sou da Paz Institute, between 40,000 and 70,000 legal assault rifles are in civilian hands. According to Langeani and other Lula advisors, a mandatory, competitively priced buy-back would eliminate some of the nation’s most dangerous firearms with the government paying between $2,850 and $3,800 for each rifle.
Nearly 700,000 Brazilians have registered as “hunters, marksmen or collectors,” or “CACs,” and amassed firearms by taking advantage of Bolsonaro’s looser gun laws. Since 2018, the number of licenses has increased by nearly 500%.
However, there is little oversight of those who own guns. According to the Brazilian Forum of Public Security, army auditors visited 622 gun owners with expired or inactive licenses last year and seized less than 400 firearms. They made no visits at all in at least ten states in Brazil, which are home to approximately 80 million people.
One illustration of this is the Jefferson incident.
According to his testimony, he had an assault rifle, a 9mm Tanfoglio handgun, “lots of ammo,” and prohibited grenades in his home despite being under house arrest for allegedly organizing “anti-democratic acts.”
Additionally, Jefferson informed the police that he presently possesses 20 to 25 firearms and had previously owned 100.
According to the army, he had a CAC permit since 2005, which was taken away after the firefight in October.
Luiz Gustavo Cunha, Jefferson’s attorney, asserted that his client was entitled to possess those weapons at home under the law.
Cunha made the statement, “He believes any politician who wants to disarm their population wants to turn them into slaves.”
Lula has to contend with more than just weak enforcement.
CAC permit holders who purchased expensive foreign firearms in good faith are anticipated to face legal challenges, according to transition sources.
In the first eleven months of 2022, Brazilians imported revolvers and pistols worth a record $75 million, nearly double the amount imported the previous year.
According to official U.S. data compiled by the Security Assistance Monitor, Bolsonaro has transformed Brazil into a top ten export market for U.S.-made civilian firearms, rising from 26th place in 2018 to ninth this year. Up from $3.2 million four years ago, U.S. firearms exports to Brazil reached a record $13.3 million through October 2022.
A vocal supporter of gun-friendly legislation reflects the growing demand.
A new wave of pro-gun lawmakers was elected in the October election as part of a more conservative Congress. They plan to push for pro-gun laws similar to those in the United States.
Marcos Pollon, a newly elected federal lawmaker who is in charge of the lobby group PROARMAS, which takes its name from the National Rifle Association in the United States, has stated that he will oppose Lula’s efforts to suppress a thriving sector.
He stated, “It is a dictatorial measure to destroy overnight an entire industry for political vengeance.” We anticipate that the legislature will respond to protect individuals’ rights to engage in legitimate self-defense and sports.
Bolsonaro urged his followers to arm themselves in advance of the election as protection against potential electoral fraud. His politicization of gun ownership has contributed to a tense atmosphere, with his supporters camped outside military bases urging the armed forces to overturn the outcome. He has not yet acknowledged defeat.
After the Supreme Court ordered the arrest of an indignant leader who had allegedly “summoned armed people to prevent the certification of,” Lula, supporters of Bolsonaro attempted to invade the federal police headquarters in Brasilia on Monday night. They clashed with security personnel and set fire to vehicles.
He is not the only supporter of Bolsonaro who has called for an armed response to the results of the election.
Milton Baldin, a businessman, said in a video from a protest last month, “Come to Brasilia to protest Lula’s electoral certification.” He added, “Come here and show your presence,” noting that Brazil’s yellow-and-green flag “may well end up red – but with my blood.”
Baldin, who was detained the previous week on suspicion of making anti-democratic remarks, declined to comment.
According to Reuters, some of Brazil’s most violent gangsters have acquired a growing number of legal weapons. According to sources from the federal police, that trend has only increased.
An alleged network of arms dealers, money launderers, and cocaine traffickers was the subject of a federal police raid on November 8. Two officers told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential findings, that 30 of the 110 people arrested had CAC permits.
Claudio Mannarino, the mayor of Comendador Levy Gasparian, 140 kilometers (87 miles) north of Rio de Janeiro, stated that Jefferson is not a hard-boiled criminal but rather serves as an illustration of how Bolsonaro’s rhetoric and looser gun laws can result in violent crime.
He was having espresso in his home around noontime on Oct. 23 when he heard what seemed like firecrackers. Mannarino began receiving messages shortly thereafter claiming Jefferson, his neighbor, had fired at the federal police.
The previous year, Jefferson was imprisoned for threatening democratic institutions. The politician with cancer was placed under house arrest in January but prohibited from social media.
On October 21, Jefferson’s daughter uploaded a video to her Twitter account in which, among other insults, he referred to Supreme Court Justice Carmen Lucia as a “prostitute.”
After two days, four government cops moved toward his home to keep him for breaking the particulars of his home capture.
With a hail of bullets, he met them.
In his statement following his surrender, Jefferson claimed in his apology that he had not shot with malice to the officers who had been wounded.
The federal prosecutors did not react. Last week, they accused him of four counts of endeavored murder, opposing capture, and weapons charges.
Jefferson’s attorney, Cunha, claimed his client was innocent and argued that his initial confinement and subsequent arrest warrant were unlawful.
Cunha said of the police, “They became criminals by carrying out an illegal arrest warrant.”
