MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Brazilian President says “everyone should buy a rifle”
If you don't want to buy a rifle “don't pump up the balls” of those who do, said Bolsonaro Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro Friday said that “everyone should buy a rifle” in order not to be enslaved.
“Everybody has to buy a rifle, wow! Armed people will never be enslaved. I know it costs a lot. An idiot says: 'Ah, what you have to buy is beans,' if you don't want to, don't buy the rifle, but do not come to disturb whoever wants to buy it,” said Bolsonaro as he left the Palacio da Alvorada in Brasilia.
The former Army captain recalled that registered hunters, shooters and collectors “may buy a rifle,” but landowners cannot. “If you don't want to buy rifles, please don't 'pump up the balls' of whoever wants to buy them,” he cried.
Since the 2018 presidential campaign and after he came to power, the far-right leader defended free access to firearms, citing the high rates of urban and rural crime.
Former Defense Minister Raúl Jungmann (2016-2018) under then-President Michel Temer criticized Bolsonaro: “More rifles are more tragedy, it is more suffering, it is more conflict and it is not up to the President of the Republic to encourage the consumption of weapons and, above all, heavy weapons, due to the pain that this represents for Brazilians,” he said.
Bolsonaro had in July eliminated the 150% tax on Brazilian firearm exports to countries in Central and South America, while the Supreme Federal Court (STF) has annulled other measures towards the suppression of taxes on imported revolvers and pistols in mid-April this year, along with other decrees aimed at making the purchase and use of weapons easier in Brazil.
Making the carrying and possession of weapons more flexible is one of the campaign promises of the president, whose weapons model is that of the United States.
The number of new firearms registered in Brazil nearly doubled in 2020, from 94,416 in 2019 to 186,071 last year, according to the Brazilian Public Security Forum. This means an increase of 97.1%.
In total, last year there were more than 2 million active private firearms in Brazil, including hunters, collectors, sport shooters, private security, law enforcement and armed forces.
Regarding comments against him over the past few days, Bolsonaro explained that “some say I want a coup, they are idiots because I am already president.” He added that “our loyalty is with the people.”
Opposition leaders have criticized the President for the demonstrations called for September 7 against the STF saying he wanted to encourage a climate of political and institutional instability. On that day Bolsonaro is to preside over the Independence Day celebrations in Brasilia in the morning and São Paulo in the afternoon.
Far-right activists reportedly favour an invasion of Congress to then shut down the STF and create a Constitutional Military Court. But “our people do not go to the streets to prey on public assets or throw stones at the police, or invade anything,” Bolsonaro insisted, adding that the protests would be peaceful.
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Read all commentsWhile I am a life member of the NRA and own two long guns in the US, I would prefer to be able to delegate the use of deadly force to professional, well trained, honest and subordinate law enforcement. This is not always readily available in rural areas of the US, hence the logic of keeping a personal recourse. In Brazil I would prefer the same, but experience shows that the police in neither urban nor rural areas meet any of the essential criteria above. One recourse for the law abiding citizen should be armed self-defense, but without a restructuring of the executive arm of the government that will not result in a long term improvement in security for the average citizen.
Aug 28th, 2021 - 02:26 pm 0What Pres Jair is holding there looks more like an overgrown pistol, rather than a rifle. With what looks like a muzzle/silencer attached, which would further reduce its effective range never mind accuracy.
Aug 28th, 2021 - 04:03 pm 0Here in the UK all handguns are banned, the only exception being Olympic .22 target shooting pistols and they MUST be kept at a club.
You can own rifles, however they also MUST be kept at a club, can only be single shot and any magazine crimped, so you can only have one round in the chamber and one in the mag.
Farmers etc. Can get licences for shotguns and rifles for “pest control”, strictly limited in what calibre you can get depending on the intended use and under strict conditions for storage. All must also be single shot with any mag crimped.
We still have shootings, but very rarely, especially in comparison to the US.
I have three airguns which I use for target shooting, none of which require a license.
I have heard NRA supporters saying ‘you can take my gun from my cold dead hand’, well that is pretty much what happens in the UK.
All in all a much safer way to be.
“Brasília Judge ends Lava Jato witch hunt against Lula
Aug 28th, 2021 - 08:31 pm 0On Saturday, August 21, Brasília 12th District Criminal Court Judge Pollyanna Kelly Alvez rejected an attempt by the federal public prosecutors to reopen one of disgraced former Judge Sergio Moro’s US-backed, election year conviction of former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Called the Atibaia vacation home case, it used one coerced plea bargain testimony made by a convicted felon to build a now debunked and ridiculous charge that Lula had received free renovations as a gift from OAS and Odebrecht construction companies on someone else’s property – the modest vacation hope of family friend Jacó Bittar, the former Workers Party Mayor of Brazil’s 11th wealthiest city, Campinas.
At the time, most Anglo media outlets spun the reversal of all Lava Jato charges against Lula as a technicality, as if he were still guilty of something. The Supreme Court, in fact, ruled that he had been victim of multiple counts of felony judicial bias. As a result, they dismissed all evidence used in the convictions and said that, if anyone wanted to reopen the cases, they would have to start from zero.
Bias was proven ..
In addition to showing that the Lava Jato prosecution task force had met with a group of 18 FBI agents every 15 days for the entire duration of the investigation leaked the conversations show Judge Moro coaching the task force on things such as how to leak information to the media to damage Lula’s public image in the lead up to the trial.
After the ruling was released, Lula’s Defense Lawyers pointed out that this is the 17th set of frivolous corruption accusations made against former President Lula that have been dismissed in court since the beginning of the US DOJ backed Lava Jato investigation.”
https://www.brasilwire.com/brasilia-judge-ends-lava-jato-witch-hunt-against-lula/
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