Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Suspends Import Tax Exemption for Handguns

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Federal Supreme Court (STF) Justice Edson Fachin yesterday granted a temporary restraining order to suspend a federal government agency Resolution that would zero the import tax on revolvers and pistols. The measure, announced by the Ministry of Economy on December 9th, would have come into force on January 1st, 2021.

Fachin’s ruling, which he has referred to the full court for ratification, is yet another legal defeat for President Bolsonaro, who was elected pledging to relax and simplify the purchase and possession of guns. On the day the exemption was issued, the President published a photo in which he is seen holding a gun, celebrating the measure.

The Ministry of Economy said it would not comment on Fachin’s ruling.

The petition for an injunction was brought by PSB (Brazilian Socialist Party). The party said that, by zeroing the tax, the government is easing the population’s access to firearms, “contradicting not only global efforts to mitigate armed conflict, but also national public policies,” such as the Statute of Disarmament (Law No. 10,826 of December 22, 2003).

In the suit, the party also criticized the reduction in tax revenues to the public coffers at a time of economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The government increased public indebtedness during the pandemic to finance measures such as the emergency aid.

In his ruling, Fachin stated that the reduction in the tax rate conflicts with “the right to life and the right to safety, which violates the Brazilian constitutional order”. The justice further said he understood that the measure “severely” impacts domestic industry, reducing its competitiveness compared to imported products.

“It is undeniable that, by allowing the reduction of import costs of pistols and revolvers, the tax incentive contributes to price composition of imported weapons and, therefore, loss of competitiveness of the domestic industry; which challenges the domestic market, considered national patrimony, (…) and leads to unreasonable mitigation of the rights to life and to public safety,” he argued.

Fachin stated that there is no unrestricted right of access to weapons in Brazil, even under the pretense of legitimate defense. This right, if granted, “only covers exceptional circumstances,” limited by the State’s obligation to protect citizens’ lives”, he explained.

“Faced with this regulatory context, GECEX Resolution 126/2020 is considered, in a deliberative judgment, to be in conflict with the Constitution. (…) The risk of a dramatic increase in the flow of firearms, prompted by factors related to the economy, seems sufficient to me to justify the granting of the preliminary injunction,” he concluded.

Since taking office in January 2019, President Jair Bolsonaro has taken steps to ease the population’s access to guns and ammunition, one of his campaign’s main platform planks.

The first decree came two weeks after his inauguration on January 15th, 2019. At the time, the President eased access to weapons for government security agents, residents of rural areas, residents of urban areas in states with over ten homicides per 100,000 inhabitants – virtually all -, owners of commercial establishments and collectors, marksmen and hunters.

In a video excerpt from the April 22nd cabinet meeting disclosed by the STF in May, Bolsonaro said he is arming citizens because he doesn’t want a dictatorship in Brazil. He also stated that once armed, the people “will never be enslaved”.