RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — a judge of the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil gave on Friday to President Jair Bolsonaro and his Ministry of Justice a period of five days to respond to what was said by the opposition that a recent presidential decree amending the Law of possession of weapons is unconstitutional. The decree promulgated on May 7 flexibilize the country’s once strict arms law by expanding the capacity of Brazilians to sell, port and access firearms, as some critics have described as “the most devastating arms reform” in Decades. Judge Rosa Weber said she needed more information before she could issue a ruling on the legality of the decree. Igarape, a Brazilian group of experts, said that this “death decree” significantly increases the number of people who could carry weapons without authorization from the federal Police, further aggravating the violence in Brazil.
One day after Bolsonaro signed his decree, accompanied by legislators who simulated having pistols in their hands as a sign of support, the Sustainability Network party filed a petition with the Supreme Federal Court. In the document, the political party argued that the decree constitutes an “abuse of the executive’s regulatory authority” and that it should have been subject to the scrutiny of the Congress. He added that the Brazilian Constitution stipulates that it is up to Congress to legislate on the possession, carrying and registration of firearms. The measures of the decree “clearly threaten the spirit of the disarmament statute”, wrote the sustainability network in reference to the current Firearms Act of 2003. Both the Senate and the House of Deputies coincided with that position. The Decree “invades the prerogatives of the Members of Parliament”, said on Wednesday the president of the lower house, Rodrigo Maia, who requested the revocation of specific points. Bolsonaro said on Friday that if the decree were unconstitutional it should cease to exist. However, hours later he testified before an enthusiastic crowd in the state of Paraná: “We will not retract from those who have always said they are experts in security.” Bolsonaro insisted on having acted in a constitutional way. ” The life of a good citizen is priceless, “he emphasized. The president, the army’s captain and legislator for 27 years, has long opposed the disarmament statute of 2003, which established 25 years as the minimum age for owning a weapon, as well as mandatory background checks and the requirement of Renewal of the respective license every five years. When he was a legislator, Bolsonaro was part of the weapons-friendly group known as “the Bullet Bank.” In 2017, the year with the most homicides in the history of Brazil, 63,880 people were killed in the country, according to the Brazilian Public Safety Forum, a group of experts.
