Editorial Board
Brazil’s Bolsonaro Makes a Dangerous Decision on Guns
His decree loosening gun laws will come at a cost in lives.
More guns won’t make her safer.
Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro ran for office vowing to reduce the country’s epidemic of violent crime. But his decree this week making it easier to buy firearms could lead to the violent deaths of hundreds or thousands more Brazilians.
Brazil is already the world’s most murderous country. A record 63,800 were murdered in 2017. Of those fatalities, some 43,000 were caused by firearms. That is almost three times as many gun-related homicides as there were the same year in the United States.