BRAZIL – CAC (gun collectors, shooters and hunters) work together to form a bench in Congress. There are 34 federal, senator and gubernatorial candidates nominated across the country with names associated with Association Proarmas, the most representative in the class. For state and district legislatures, there are 23 more candidates in the queue. The plans of the country’s largest armed group also include the creation of a political party. For the first time, this group, surpassing the entire military police in terms of membership and arsenal, was organized in the States and in the Planalto Palace to elect representatives.

The official entry of the armed forces into politics is encouraged by the President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro (PL). The candidate for re-election received leaders and preliminary candidates of the movement in Planalto for videos and photos expressing support for these allies. The strategy runs counter to what the bulk of the campaign has been complaining about: Bolsonaro’s lack of dialogue with supporters from other segments, such as the business world.

Thanks to government arms policy, the total number of registered CACs jumped from 117,467 in 2018 to 673,818 this year. This number exceeds all 406,000 active military police officers operating throughout the country, and even more than approximately 360,000 people in the Armed Forces.

The political movement is viewed with dismay by police officers and public safety experts. Unlike the police and Armed Forces, CAC do not have a military hierarchy and have a President and Deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP) his biggest references. Proarmas leader, lawyer Marcos Pollón announced his candidacy for the Chamber of Mato Grosso do Sul days after Jair Bolsonaro received him in Planalto.

In a video posted by Pollon on July 6, three days before the big CAC demonstration at Esplanada dos Ministérios, Bolsonaro waved once more to the class. “To all of you CACs, a big hug, congratulations on the moment, on this opportunity, on the initiative,” he said. “And congratulations to whom too? Marcos Pollon. Congratulations, Mark.”

The goal of the Proarmas movement is to elect candidates for the Brazilian and state legislatures to make gun laws more flexible. The political action, however, continued for several months under the leadership of Eduardo. As shown by Estadão, the president’s son convened anti-gun activists in the states to pass laws to make it easier for the CAC to carry guns. While they may travel armed, traffic has certain rules and the destination must always be a shooting club. With the right to wear restrictions will ease.

O Stadao identified 27 candidates for the House and Senate of activists and regional politicians who want to form a “CAC bench” in Brasilia. In addition to these, there are nine other politicians with a congressional mandate who officially receive Pro-Armas support in disputes in the Senate and state governments, provided that the arms agenda is considered with absolute priority. There are 23 more candidates for state and district assemblies. All of them are distributed by the parties PL, PMN, Podemos, PP, PRTB, PSC, PTB, PTC and the Republicans who form the Centrão.

The bench that the CAC wants to elect in Congress and in the States is comprised of shooting instructors, club owners, police officers and lawyers.

The main goal of the group is the complete repeal of Law 10.826/03, disarmament statute. There are other proposals that are at an advanced stage of processing but are still under discussion, such as the project 3723/2019 sent to Bolsonaro. The text regulates the activities of sport shooters, hunters and gun collectors, and also repeals the article of the Statute requiring the sale of ammunition in packages with a tracking code and weapons with a protective and identification mark engraved on the body of the weapon.

The proposal was approved by the Chamber, as amended, in November 2019 and is currently being processed in Senate. On air last week, Pollon cited two alternative Senators’ texts and a third that is “our substitute.” “3723, because of the elections, he is kind of quiet. Obviously, if it’s out of the question, I have to go there and take care of it,” said a Proarmas commander who does not hold public office.

In the Assemblies, in addition to facilitating postage for CACs, the idea is to increase access by lowering prices. On July 9, during a Pro-Armas rally in Brasília, Eduardo Bolsonaro celebrated in a sound machine the ICMS reduction in arms purchases in Alagoas. “Bicycle target,” he said. “Attention State Deputies, Monday, Mission: Tied Cabo Bebeto (PL-AL) Enter.”

Candidates admitted that the significant rise in the number of CACs under Bolsonaro gave the arms agenda an opportunity to attract votes. The contingent of more than 600 thousand people does not include family members and friends who can also be persuaded to vote for candidates in the segment.

“The momentum is strong. The gun agenda is advocated by hundreds of thousands of people, most of them evangelicals. They chose me because they know my agenda,” councilor Devanir Ferreira (R-ES), who will run for the House seat, said in the report.

Gun shops and shooting clubs are seen by the organizers as important distributors of nominations. These establishments also grew exponentially under Bolsonaro’s government. Today there are 2066 clubs in each state. Some of them have nationalistic inspiration in their names: Patriotas do Brasil, Pátria Armada, Brasil Atividades de Tiro and Armas Brasil.

“We have an integrated network of supporters. We have offices in over 300 municipalities, including shooting clubs, advisors and shops. With the support of Proarmas, we can reach more people. Not only weapons are on the agenda, but also the base,” Samurai Kasador (PRTB-SP) told reporters. Stadao. A councilor from Monte Azul Paulista, he foresees that expanding the agenda will win him a seat in the Assembly for the first time.

To illustrate, the number of shooting clubs in the country is greater than the number of catalogs of two young parties with Chamber representation, Rede and Novo, provided by TSE in 2015. Novo has 29 and Rede has 147, according to the Electoral Court. The number of shooting clubs and associations is almost equal to the number of LP directories. The acronym under which President Jair Bolsonaro will run for Palacio do Planalto includes 2,250 party units, of which 99.2% are temporary.

Although parties do not have more than one directory per city, and clubs do not have this limitation, the comparison shows how fast associations are growing in the country. According to the Army, São Paulo is the city with the most clubs. There are 53 of them. The city is followed by Brasilia and Rio. Both with 32 clubs each.

The organization, chaired by Marcos Pollón, was born in 2020 and is already the most representative in Brazil. Future plans are even more ambitious. “When we reach 1 million (supports), let’s create a political party. “Oh why 1 million?” Because I’m optimistic. I work with a conversion rate of 50%,” he said in an interview in February.

Pollon’s political interest, which was only announced after meeting Bolsonaro at the Palacio do Planalto, contrasts with the action profile of Bene Barbosa, another arms leader who inspired Pollon to create his movement. Barbosa now sells courses on personal and home security, but he was once a major voice in Brazil. He used visibility to invest in his business and did not migrate to representative politics. Asked by Estadao to comment on the CAC’s progress in Brasilia, he chose not to comment.

According to experts, the chances are high that some CAS will be elected. A movement based on “it’s not about guns, it’s about freedom” won a place among the conservative and evangelical electorate. The motto is usually accompanied by “protection of the family” and “Christian values”. The arms agenda relies on Bolsonaro. Vice versa. Candidates use topics such as “voupragueracombolsonaro” on social media.

However, the real strength has yet to be tested in the elections. “Perhaps these people are voting for pro-gun candidates, although polls show that the majority of the Brazilian population does not believe that they will be safe with armed people. But there is funding from shooting clubs, reinforcing the discourse that this means freedom. The group’s organization has increased and the current government is supporting this agenda. There is a strong movement, but we still do not know if it will guarantee votes,” said Carolina Ricardo.

traditional “bullet bench” The Chamber also defends guns, but moves on to topics such as tougher penalties, the typification of new crimes, and the structuring of the police in the states. The agenda presented by the movement’s candidates is generally limited to armaments, support for Bolsonaro and antipetism. She rides Bolsonaris and vice versa. Candidates use expressions such as “voupraguerracombolsonaro” on social media.

“They don’t have a programmatic public safety agenda, it’s not a well-thought-out agenda in the country. It is the arms agenda that is helping Bolsonaro to reduce the number of the left. It is unlikely that, if elected, they will bring profit to the “bullet bench”. Perhaps he will stick to the traditional agenda,” said Carolina Ricardo, executive director of the Instituto Sou da Paz.

PT members are already planning changes to gun access policy in case the former president Luis Inacio Lula da Silva (EN) to be elected in October. deputy Paulo Teixeira (PT-SP) reported Stadao that the historical position of the party “for control (weapons) in accordance with the provisions of the Disarmament Statute.”

The parliamentarian is responsible for planning the issue of public safety in Lula’s government program. “Of course, these measures, which weakened gun control in Brazil, will be lifted. Up to the sale of a rifle to a member of the PKK,” he said.