In August 2014, a law by the government of José Mujica sought to regulate the possession, carrying, marketing and trafficking of weapons and ammunition. It could only be applied two years later, in December 2016, when the corresponding regulatory decree arrived. There, a period of one year was established for people in an irregular situation to enter the legal framework.
The results were regular. The first year of application, 2,763 were presented. The following year there were 4,190. In January 2019, an extension was voted in Parliament to stimulate regularization, also for twelve months. And the result was similar: 4,201 adjustments.
In 2020, the numbers plummeted. There were only 2,361 requests. The decrease was awarded by the authorities for the effects of the pandemic and the health emergency. Thus, in November of that year, it was decided to extend the term again, again for one year. There was also another decree, which sought to facilitate the necessary procedures for regularization.
For example, regarding the obligation to carry out the ballistic test, which all interested parties had to carry out. An aspect that, according to the authorities, presented a series of practical difficulties. In particular, because the procedure could only be carried out in Montevideo. A task that corresponded to the Material and Armament Service of the Army. The problem was that the Police Forensic Ballistics Department only assigned a quota of 20 weapons per week.
Sources from the Ministry of the Interior now speak of “success” as a result of the new decree. Between January and December of last year, there were 12,048 regularization procedures. This is indicated by the official data of the Ministry of the Interior, to which he accessed The Observer. As noted, it is the maximum historical record held by that secretary.
In the coming weeks, with a unanimous vote, the Parliament will approve a new extension for the regularization. It will be at the request of the nationalist senator Carlos Camy. The term will be extended until March 1, 2025.
“There is agreement in the political system that these issues are very delicate and require a long process of raising awareness,” Camy affirms in his initiative. “There is also a general idea that the application of the rule is a slow process.”
The issue is also being analyzed by the Broad Front. A request for reports made by the opposition caucus to the Material and Armament Service, which it agreed to The Observer revealed that, according to the latest official data, there are 606,704 weapons registered in the country. 47% of them are in Montevideo. In the interior, Canelones (12%) and Maldonado (4.5%) have the highest records.
The State, according to the same report, lacks a formal study on the profile of the arms holder. Analysis data from the National Registry, however, reveals that 98% are men. This analysis indicates that residents on the coast “have a tendency to own more long weapons than short ones. An inverse phenomenon occurs in the departments bordering Brazil.
Barely 5% of the records correspond to collectors. Another 3% is held by legal entities, mainly security and financial companies. 37% of the weapons registered in Uruguay are revolvers, 26% rifles, 18% shotguns and another 18% are pistols.
court deposit
A request for reports made by Senator Camy to the Ministry of Defense revealed that in the first years of application of the law, between 2015 and 2017, the Judiciary requested information on the existing data of 14,102 weapons seized or related to a case. Of this total, only 350, 2.5%, had a complaint for loss or theft and were registered in the name of a private individual. Another 5,682 lacked any type of data or record.
The same report indicated that another 247 weapons had been stolen or lost by personnel from the Ministry of the Interior. Another 7,884 were registered but did not have a report of theft or loss. Of these, 25 belonged to the police and 98 to the military.
The latest official figures indicate that in Judicial Deposit there are 1,840 weapons awaiting regularization or destruction. Of that total, only 58 were delivered voluntarily and have a record. By a 2007 law, they will be destroyed three years after delivery.
