Brazil is one of most violent countries on Earth. Almost 60,000 people were murdered there in 2014, to say nothing of kidnappings, rapes, assaults and robberies. According to a 2016 NPR report,
While some Latin American countries have higher per capita murder rates, in absolute numbers, Brazil is the deadliest place in the world outside Syria.
In other words, it’s a good place to have the means for armed self defense. But as a Bloomberg opinion piece (yes, Bloomberg) titled Why Brazil’s Strict Gun Laws Have Misfired illustrates, the country’s gun control laws keep almost all civilians disarmed, making them easy targets for Brazil’s huge criminal class.
André Bevilaqua is no stranger to guns. He hunted as a kid, and carrying was a part of the protocol when he auctioned confiscated property at the regional court, where debtors frequently demurred. But when the Rio de Janeiro attorney set out to buy a .380 caliber pistol last year, he hit a rainforest of red tape that only a Brazilian bureaucrat could love.
A year later — after a thicket of questionnaires, hefty fees, a criminal background check, a psychological evaluation, a written exam and a shooting test, and a house call by three firearms inspectors — the armed forces finally green-lighted his purchase. I heard the contorted tale as I tagged along with Bevilaqua to the gun shop last weekend to pick up his gun.
That’s the drill in Brazil, where law-abiding folk submit to a state-stewarded via crucis in the name of public safety. Meanwhile, it’s de facto open carry for the busy criminals who’ve turned Brazil into a continental kill zone.
So the man in the video below had every reason to believe that no one in the crowd of women and children he approached outside a school would present a threat. Why, then, was one of the women packing a pistol? Because she’s an off-duty military police officer. And we’d guess that she — along with everyone else on that corner — is awfully glad she was carrying.
THIS is the beauty of concealed carry. A sick man walks up to a group of women and children and tries to rob them. A good woman with a gun takes care of him! If she had no gun, they’d likely have all been dead/injured! pic.twitter.com/X1YVzV3djr
— Joey M. (YourVoice™ America) (@JTMYVA) May 12, 2018
Here’s a (slightly awkward) Google translation from a Portuguese language news report.
A military off duty police officer, who had gone to a Mother’s Day celebration at the school where her daughter is studying in Suzano, shot a suspect in front of the unit. According to the Military Police, the 21-year-old suspect was carrying a .38 caliber revolver and had already approached other mothers awaiting the opening of the gate, as well as having searched the school’s security to see if he was armed.
It’s not clear what the man’s motive was when a approached the group and drew a gun.
A video that circulates through social networks shows the moment the suspect approaches a group of women and children and points the gun at a person. Right now, next to him, is the police officer, who pulls a gun and fires at the suspect. The people in front of the school run. The suspect falls to the ground and the policeman walks away. She approaches the suspect again, pushes the weapon he wears and surrenders.
Having taken at least one round center mass, this Brazilian criminal won’t be terrorizing any more women and children.
Police also said that the suspect, who had already shot a shot that did not hit anyone, made a second shot, which failed. That was when the police officer approached the suspect. The suspect was rescued to the Santa Casa de Suzano, but it did not resist the injuries and it died.
It’s a shame that more law-abiding Brazilians don’t have the option of protecting themselves in the same way. And that America’s dedicated civilian disarmament advocates would like nothing more than to see our laws become more like Brazil’s.