Bolsonaro ramped up Brazil’s gun culture. Can Lula reign it in?

In the past four years, the number of privately owned guns in Brazil has more than doubled to nearly 2 million.

large inflated doll with the top half of a man draped in a Brazillian flag walking underneath
Demonstrators inflate a doll depicting Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro during a protest in support of gun rights and Bolsonaro. [Adriano Machado/Reuters]

After winning the Brazilian election, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will once again become the country’s President in January, more than 10 years after he last held the position. But his victory was narrow and current President Jair Bolsonaro still won more than 49 percent of the vote.

Lula, as he is known, will now attempt to roll back many of Bolsonaro’s right-wing policies – including the loosening of Brazil’s gun-control measures, which led to the number of guns in private hands doubling since 2018. But how easy will that be?

In this episode:

  • Azade Pesmen (@azadethunda), freelance journalist
  • Melina Risso (@melinarisso), research director, The Igarape Institute

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Ashish Malhotra with Chloe K. Li and Negin Owliaei. Ruby Zaman fact-checked this episode. Our production team includes Amy Walters, Alexandra Locke, Chloe K. Li, Negin Owliaei and our host, Halla Mohieddeen. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.

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Source: Al Jazeera