By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – Brazil’s President, Jair Bolsonaro, announced his government is sending a bill to Congress that would classify land invasion as a terrorist act.
“As far as I’m concerned, it (invasion) will be typified as terrorism,” he said.
During his video statement on his social media, he said that during the first three months of his Administration only one land invasion was registered in the country, while during the same period last year 43 were registered.
Human rights groups fear that with the bill landless peasant movement such as the MST will be considered illegal.
Bolsonaro also defended another bill that would extend the right of legitimate defense to those who shoot people attempting to invade their homes.
“In a home invasion, a farm or an estate, the owner can defend himself by firing, and if he (assailant) decides to die, it is his problem. Private property is sacred,” he said.
The easing of firearm restrictions and of penalties for those committing crimes with firearms was one of the President’s campaign promises in 2018.
One of the first decrees issued by President Bolsonaro after taking office on January 1st, was one to loosen the requirements for gun ownership in the country.
In early April, Rio de Janeiro’s legislative assembly approved a bill that will allow state deputies, DEGASE agents, Alerj (Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro) security guards, and legislative police, as well as state and municipal tax auditors to carry firearms.
According to daily The Independent, in 2017, over 300,000 civilians in Brazil were legally registered to possess a gun.
Brazil’s Ministry of Justice estimates, however, that there may be anywhere from eight to nine million illegal firearms in Brazil.
A recent report from Fundação Abrinq and the Brazilian Health Ministry shows a shocking increase in the number of deaths of young black Brazilian men caused by firearms over the last two decades. In 2017, the study shows that eighty percent of all young men killed by firearms were black.