USE OF FIREARMS BY MUNICIPAL GUARDS

In July 2021, São Paulo City Hall authorized the use of R$ 400 million for the purchase of 25 rifles and 10 semi-automatic rifles for special units of the Metropolitan Civil Guard (GCM). About two months later, the Public Defenders’ Office of São Paulo asked for the suspension of the budget to the Court of Auditors, a position that was supported by Conectas Human Rights and the Igarapé Institute. The request was not accepted and, in April this year, the use of these long guns by GCM special forces was authorized.

Although the use of long guns by this type of institution is unusual, the use of firearms in general is not – 19 of the 26 Brazilian capitals have armed municipal guards, and 3 of these 26 capitals don’t even have municipal guards. Almost half of them have armed themselves in the last 10 years. And the trend is confirmed in the rest of the country.

While in the state of São Paulo 39% of the cities with municipal guards have armed staff, in the state of Rio de Janeiro only one city has an armed guard: Mangaratiba, since June 2021. The capital of Rio de Janeiro have also tried to arm its guard but failed. Despite this, there is some expectation of change, because in 2020 the corporation received 150 pistols from the Federal Highway Police (PRF).

WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY?

In 2003, with the federal Statute of Disarmament, municipal guards of capitals and cities with more than 500.000 inhabitants were authorized to carry firearms, on and off-duty, and those of cities with more than 50.000 were authorized to carry them on duty. In 2021 this changed, the Federal Supreme Court (STF) considered the distinction by city size unconstitutional and granted the right to carry a gun to all members of municipal guards in the country, even when off duty.

However, the municipal guards are established by the cities’ organic laws and, in the case of Rio de Janeiro in particular, this law defines that its guard is not armed. Even so, it is not uncommon to see guards carrying pistols and revolvers in the streets of Rio de Janeiro.

It should be remembered that citizens are not forbidden to carry firearms, as long as they first apply to carry them in accordance with the law and comply with the legal prerogatives. When this is requested to the Federal Police (PF) for personal defense, one of these requirements is the effective need to carry the weapon, which can be justified by the exercise of a risky professional activity. So even if a corporation do not request the PF for firearms for their agents, the agent can request a personal authorization.

PROS AND CONS

The main argument of those in favor of armed guards is the improvement of public security by their greater ability to confront criminals, especially in places where crime has easy access to weapons. They also argue that armed guards can lighten the workload of the military police, allowing the corporation to focus on more specialized activities. In addition, the weapons would guarantee the constitutional right of the agents to protect themselves against threats derived from their work. Besides this, their tasks are more ostensible than combative and, therefore, would not generate many conflicts. The security expert Paulo Storani told O Globo that the global trend is to municipalize public security activities.

Those who are against armed guards say that the typical activities of these guards do not require the use of firearms, and if it is indispensable to use fire power, the corporation can ask for police support. Another counterpoint is in the recruitment and selection of agents, which do not take into consideration the physical and psychological aptitude for the use of firearms. Furthermore, the agents can become targets for criminals who want to steal their weapons. These weapons would also end up in the hands of crime, as well.

THE CONTEXT IN THE REST OF THE COUNTRY

At the same time that there has been a greater tendency to arm municipal guards in the last decade, the population also finds more flexible legislation these days in terms of obtaining weapons. Because of this there has been a significant increase in the acquisition of weapons for hunters, shooters and collectors (CACs) in recent years; the number of new CAC weapons registered in 2017 was 16.809, and in 2021 it reached 257.541. The number of active CACs in the country also rose from 255.402 in 2018 to 1.085.888 in 2021. CACs are controlled by the Army, while weapons for self-defense are controlled by the PF. The former route is less bureaucratic and simpler, so many citizens obtain weapons for personal defense using the CAC irregularly.

It is evident that the increase in the number of weapons in circulation in the country in recent years has had an influence on the decision of municipal guards to arm themselves. It is a way to match their power of reaction with the power of action found on the streets. Even citizens with legal registrations can use them illegally against agents. Besides this, there are also citizens with regular CAC authorizations who resell weapons and ammunitions to criminals, as it happened in January of this year in Rio de Janeiro, where an arms dealer was arrested with 26 semi-automatic rifles obtained with his CAC license and that would be destined to militias and drug dealers.