MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chilean President signs into law Arms Control Bill

Piñera said the new law will help Chileans live better

Chile's President Sebastián Piñera Thursday signed into law the Arms Control Bill after nearly 14 years of Parliamentary debate. The new norm regulates the possession, trafficking, and use of firearms in a more strict manner.

Piñera claimed this law proposes the total regulation and registration of the use, trafficking and sale of firearms, through the identification of those who acquire or transfer arms or enter them from abroad, in addition to those places where they are used for sporting purposes.

“This law will allow control of firearms from when they enter or are produced in our country until they are destroyed,” said Piñera, who has celebrated that this regulation “will allow families to live with greater freedom and calm.”

With the new legislation, “more and better tools will be given to the Prosecutor's Office and the Carabineros” so that they can “fulfill the mission of fighting against the illegal use of firearms.”

The new legislation increases penalties for those who sell ammunition to people not authorized to use weapons, and also to those who destroy the system of traceability and tracking of guns.

Those who hand over weapons to minors may be sentenced to prison terms of between 541 days and five years.

Other provisions of the new law regulate on the areas where training in the use of guns is permitted.

Legal persons may now have up to two guns each, while collectors are allowed to own up to ten collectable weapons, suitable for shooting, and 50 in case they are unusable. Hunters and athletes may have up to six.

”We must continue to strengthen the fight against these scourges (of crime),” said Piñera, thus making a call to strengthen the forces of order and public security in Chile, advancing in the effectiveness and coordination of the competent institutions.

Piñera has also urged the national Congress to advance in the approval of new laws against drug trafficking, terrorism, the protection of critical infrastructures, as well as modernizing the institution of the Carabineros and promoting a police protection statute.

As per the new law, those willing to own a firearm, will be required a certification from a psychiatrist, as well as the completion of maintenance and handling courses for these devices.