At a drawing Tuesday, August 9, at Brazil’s Election Board (Tribunal Superior Eleitoral) it was decided that on the electronic voting machines to be used for the disarmament referendum on October 23, voters will mark “no” by typing “1”, and “yes” by typing “2”.
The question voters will be asked is: “Should the sale of firearms and ammunition be prohibited in Brazil?”
The Parliamentary Front for a Weaponless Brazil has planned a campaign against the sales of firearms in the Brazil. According to the Front’s secretary general, Deputy Raul Jungmann (Socialist Popular Party), the first event will be a concert in Rio de Janeiro, August 11, with artists, intellectuals, and politicians who favor disarmament.
Other campaign strategies will include the publication of educational booklets, the installation of committees around the country, and the creation of a call center to answer population’s doubts about the referendum and the campaign.
The Front for a Weaponless Brazil wants to explain to Brazilians that the sales of firearms contribute directly for the violence in the country.
Jungmann recalled that Brazil holds the record of homicides involving firearms, with 18 million firearms in its territory – half of which are illegal or irregular.
The strategy of the Parliamentary Self-Defense Front, on the other hand, is to convince voters that the violence in the country will not be altered by forbidding firearms sales.
According to the Self-Defense Front’s president, Deputy Alberto Fraga (Liberal Front Party), the weapons that feed organized crime are illegally acquired, and the referendum questions the legal sales of firearms.
In Fraga’s opinion, it will be only possible to combat the violence in Brazil through political measures that reach firearms illegal market. He affirmed that in 2004, only 1,044 firearms were legally sold in the country, and he evaluates that it is not reasonable to spend resources in such a referendum. “It is stupid, not to say incompetent,” he emphasized.
Agência Brasil