Austrian gun exports into Brazil, driven largely by the export of Glock handguns, were up over 377 percent during the first half of 2020.
Brazil’s surge in firearm imports is the result of Jair Bolsonaro’s push to ensure Brazilians can more easily be armed to defend their lives and the lives of their families.
On January 2, 2019, Breitbart News reported Bolsonaro noting, “Hoodlums already have guns,” and demanding better access to firearms for self-defense for Brazilians.
On May 8, 2020, Breitbart News reported that Bolsonaro signed an executive order relaxing a 2003 firearm law and making it easier for Brazilians to import guns and buy large amounts of ammunition. CNN quoted Bolsonaro saying, “It is an individual right of the one who may want to have a firearm or seek the possession of a firearm.”
He added, “Public security starts inside your home.”
Fast forward to July 2020 and the Guardian reports the impact of Bolsonaro’s actions by noting, “Glock exported more than $14.8m of guns from Austria to Brazil in the first six months of 2020, compared with about $3.1m in the same period last year.”
A G1 Globo report posited nearly 140,000 new guns went into circulation in Brazil during the first half of 2020 alone,
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.