The Right to Keep and Bear Arms... in Brazil

It seems that the Associated Press are ... disappointed ... that Brazilians today "soundly rejected" (64% against) a national referendum calling for a ban on all firearms. I think it's refreshing. And there's something buried in the story that is worth emphasizing:

"The whole campaign (against the ban) was imported from the United States. They just translated a lot of material from the NRA," said Jessica Galeria, a Californian who researches gun violence with the Viva Rio think tank, referring to the National Rifle Association. "Now, a lot of Brazilians are insisting on their right to bear arms, they don't even have a pseudo right to bear arms. It's not in their Constitution."

Rights are not granted by a Constitution, they are recognized and protected. The Brazilians seem to have discovered this. Just because there's no piece of paper that says you have a right doesn't mean you don't have it. It just means you might need to write up that piece of paper in a hurry when the government tries to violate it.

Hat tip to the Bitch Girls.

UPDATE: The BBC has a surprising moment of honesty:

For the foreseeable future, it is unlikely that any government will feel able to revisit the guns issue - such was the deafening volume of the "No" vote. Brazil is proud of its recently-restored democracy. And rightly or wrongly, the Brazilian people have spoken.

Posted on 2005-10-24 17:37:07.0 by matthew@triggerfinger.org

Check the groups below and enter your email address to receive updates by email:

The trackback URL for this entry is: http://triggerfinger.org/weblog/servlet/trackback/6795

No trackbacks have been posted so far.

No comments have been posted so far.