The Senate’s Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) approved this Wednesday (14) the legislative decree (PDL 206/2024) that suspends parts of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s decree (nº 11.615/2023) on firearms and shooting clubs. The decree signed by Lula in July 2023 increased the requirements for the use of firearms and the operation of shooting clubs in Brazil.
Among other changes, the bill currently being processed in the Senate eliminates the requirement for shooting clubs to be located at least 1 kilometer (km) from schools and excludes the requirement for a certificate for airguns.
Furthermore, it ends the obligation for sports shooters to participate in annual competitions with all the weapons they own and now allows the use of firearms for activities other than those declared at the time of acquisition of the equipment.
The draft legislative decreealready approved in the Chamber of Deputieswas presented under the justification that the requirements of the presidential decree would make the activity of weapons collectors and sports shooting practitioners unfeasible.
The rapporteur of the project in the Senate, Vanderlan Cardoso (PSD-GO), stated that it is unfeasible to require sports shooters to use all the weapons they own in championships.
“The imposition of participating in numerous events with numerous weapons at the same time goes against the principles of public safety and the promotion of sport,” he argued in the report.
Regarding the requirement that shooting clubs be established 1 km from schools, the rapporteur said that this is a municipal responsibility and makes existing clubs unviable.
“The measure invades municipal jurisdiction and undermines the legal security of already established entities, making it impossible for them to continue their activities, in addition to not having any technical justification for improving public safety,” the senator explained. Without any senator presenting any opposition to the project, the CCJ still approved the urgency regime for the matter, which will now be analyzed by the Senate plenary.
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In the Chamber of Deputies, the PDL was the subject of an agreement between the government and the opposition to make these adjustments to President Lula’s decree.
When approved in the Chamber, the author of the matter, deputy Ismael Alexandrino (PSD-GO) said that the objective was a modulation in the new weapons policy of the Lula government.
“We only aim to modulate this decree and not confront the restrictive macro policy, allowing the sport to take off and be practiced with legal security in the country”, argued the parliamentarian.
