MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine Gov't submits bill to Congress providing for easier gun ownership or disposal

The Pevaf ceased to be in force after Dec. 31, 2023, because no extension had been granted by Congress unlike in previous years

The Argentine administration of President Javier Milei sent this week a bill to Congress to make legal gun ownership easier while at the same time encouraging holders wishing to do so to dispose of their weapons. According to the Security Ministry, there are some 800,000 unregistered firearms users nationwide.

“This Government has the conviction to promote and facilitate the legal and legitimate access to the possession of firearms,” the Security Ministry said through a statement. “Agile and simple procedures will be implemented to favor the registration of irregular users,” it went on.

The initiative is said to be one of Milei's campaign promises as was repealing legal abortion. But once at the Casa Rosada, the head of state said termination of pregnancies was not among his priorities.

The draft also seeks to streamline the procedures that favor gun registration for irregular users while extending the National Program for the Voluntary Surrender of Firearms (Pevaf) for four years. However, the website of the National Agency for Controlled Materials (ANMaC) stated when accessed Friday by MercoPress that “At the moment, firearms and/or ammunition are not received.” The Program “has not been in force since December 31, 2023,” the ANMaC also mentioned.

Also this week, the ANMaC decided to exempt legitimate gun users from having to produce a new certificate of suitability when renewing their permits provided the paperwork is filed within 90 days prior to expiration.

The initiative brought before Congress features a one-year grace period for anyone who has an unauthorized gun to regularize their situation. Those unable to keep owning guns will have to transfer them to other licensed people or hand them over as per the voluntary plan to be relaunched.

According to Buenos Aires' La Nación, over 800,000 legitimate users have been deregistered or preventively disqualified because their licenses had expired. This number represented 70% of the officially registered users.

In addition, the initiative sent to Congress proposes “to extend for four years the National Program for the Voluntary Surrender of Firearms, which consists of the anonymous surrender of weapons for their subsequent destruction, without legal consequences for whoever carries it out.” The plan foresees an economic incentive for those who surrender arms and ammunition. Whenever any of these guns was delivered to the authorities it was immediately rendered unusable at the reception posts to prevent its re-entry into the illegal market.

The Pevaf was launched on Dec. 20, 2006, to curb the circulation of weapons among civilians. Hundreds of thousands of guns and ammunition were received and subsequently destroyed. But it ceased to be in force after Dec. 31, 2023, because no extension was granted by Congress unlike in previous years.