By María Josefina Arce

The four-year term of office of the now former president Jair Bolsonaro turned Brazil into an unsafe country, which was on its way to imitating the United States in the growing proliferation of firearms in society and the increase in armed violence.
   
Data from the Brazilian Public Security Yearbook revealed that at the conclusion of the former army captain's term as head of the South American nation there was a 241% growth in the number of firearms in the hands of private citizens.
    
According to the report, the number of these devices among civilians surpassed those in public bodies and almost a third of them had expired registrations.
  
Since he came to power in 2019, Bolsonaro has made the requirements for access to these devices more flexible through decrees, as well as the number allowed per person, as well as ammunition.
   
The proliferation of these devices led to a boom in recent years of violence on Brazilian soil that spread to educational centers. In November last year, society was shocked by the attacks on two schools in the state of Espírito Santo, in the southeast of the country, which left four dead and 13 injured.
    
In response to public concerns and in fulfillment of one of his electoral campaign promises, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed in recent days a decree that puts an end to the relaxation of firearms possession promoted by the ultra-right-wing Jair Bolsonaro.
  
The new norms recover restrictions and limitations to acquire these devices, and reduce their number in the hands of civilians, among them hunters, shooters and collectors, a provision that will also be complied with for ammunition.
    
It also transfers control from the Army to the Federal Police and reduces from 10 to 3 years the validity of firearms possession registrations.
   
The authorities are also preparing a voluntary buyback program to remove as many as possible from circulation, a strategy already implemented during Lula da Silva's first term in office.
   
Hundreds of thousands of firearms were taken off the streets in 2005, thanks to his "disarmament campaign" which, according to studies, prevented the deaths of almost six thousand Brazilians.
     
Lula da Silva's government is working for a disarmed Brazil, safer for all its citizens, and where children and young people are not at risk just because they go to school.