MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil: Bolsonaro finds it best when families own guns

“Only dictators fear an armed people,” Bolsonaro argued.

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro Thursday stressed that when families have guns they can help the armed forces resist a potential Communist dictatorship.

The right-wing leader made those remarks while addressing rural producers, during a meeting in which he once again questioned the country's electronic voting system ahead of the Oct. 2 elections, which -according to all surveys- he would lose to the former president and opposition candidate Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva.

”They know that worse than an external threat is an internal threat of communization (sic) of our country,” said Bolsonaro in reference to Lula's Workers' Party (PT). The head of state also insisted that his government “defends the family, arming the good citizen, in favor of economic freedom and freedom of expression and against abortion.”

Bolsonaro also praised the farmers for arming themselves to defend their properties and criticized the existence of the peasant Landless Movement, which fights for agrarian reform and is a historical ally of Lula.

Before an audience of rural businessmen in Marincá, Paraná, bordering the Argentine province of Misiones, Bolsonaro said he favored the idea of armed civilians joining the armed forces in the event of a dictatorship.

“A well-armed nation is a way to avoid any external interest over your homeland. And for you, who are from the Brazilian family, the firearm is a defense for your family and a reinforcement for our Armed Forces, because a well-armed people will never be enslaved,” the president went on.

“Only dictators fear an armed people. I want every good citizen to have a firearm to resist, if necessary, the temptation of an occasional dictator,” he added.

Regarding adverse forecasts, Bolsonaro insisted “the best poll is the popular applause,” as new studies have shown Lula might even win without the need for a runoff. “We are not afraid of clean elections, we want transparent elections and we want everyone to play within the Constitution,” he stressed.

(Source: Telam)