According to the source, there were 20,822 new registrations, almost 82 percent fewer than in 2022 (114,044).
The cut, according to the PF, is the result of rules with greater restrictions on the purchase of military equipment by the civilian population that the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has implemented since he took office on January 1, 2023.
In July, a decree from Lula reduced the number of military equipment and ammunition that civilians can access for self-defense.
The text also stipulated that the actual necessity of the acquisition must be verified.
Previously, for example, civilians could purchase up to four devices approved for self-defense without having to prove a specific need.
Lula's decree stipulated that up to two weapons approved for personal defense could be purchased, which demonstrated the actual need.
For the head of the PF's national arms control department, delegate Humberto Brandão, “an abstract statement that the person has a need is not enough.” needed for their personal safety.”
According to the PF, not only have the number of applications for gun ownership been reduced, but 75 percent of applications for new carry, if the person can circulate with the weapon, have also been rejected.
The Igarapé Institute, which specializes in public security studies, pointed out that the government still needs to make progress in controlling weapons in circulation.
Other PF statistics show that there are almost a million instruments of war in the hands of ordinary citizens.
“Access to firearms is one of the factors that influence the issue of violence and crime, it is not the only one, and of course people will have to wait a little to understand what impact the policy will have,” said the institute's research director , Melina Risso.
Researchers assure that guns don't stop crime, they actually make it more deadly.
A means of war will always worsen the crime situation in Brazil, which was the eighth most populous country in the world in 2020, according to the United Nations Office on Crime and Drugs list.
jha/ocs