the pool
on January 8th thousands of supporters
of former president Dairy bolsonaro of
storm Brazil's Congress Supreme Court
and presidential Palace
and seems strikingly similar to the
invasion of the U.S Capitol they left a
trail of Destruction
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for months leading up to this moment we
followed one group of Die Hard bolsonaro
supporters pro-gun activists they've
emerged as a powerful political force
and they're determined to bring
America's love of guns to Brazil
[Music]
thank you
[Music]
is a social media star
his post of wild boar Hunts on Instagram
have attracted tens of thousands of
followers who know him as samurai
casadore or Samurai Hunter
[Music]
wow that was an experience is it nice
what are you feeling I don't know if I
would call it nice were you happy
um I'm happy for you thank you
guns are more than just a hobby for
cassador he wants gun rights to be
enshrined in Brazilian law just like
they are in the U.S
when we met Cazador he was among a slate
of pro-gun candidates running in the
October elections
foreign
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there is no right to bear arms and
Brazil's Constitution but former
president jair bolsonaro made gun access
Central to his 2018 campaign
after taking office in 2019 he signed
over 40 executive orders rolling back
Brazil's strict Firearms regulations
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[Applause]
under his watch the number of registered
gun owners grew six-fold
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I'm in southern Brazil one of Latin
America's biggest gun conventions
there's a lot of people here of these
from all over the world including the
American companies and it's just
Samurai casadore is also here as a
featured speaker
projects
how does the event this year compared to
last year's event is
Brazilians still only have around 4
million Firearms compared to the US's
393 million
but the recent spike in gun owners here
means the potential Market is huge and
it's being driven by people like George
Washington de Olivera tosa
he's a licensed collector and in the
last few years he spent more than thirty
thousand dollars building an arsenal we
found a mine a us-made semi-automatic
rifle how many guns do you have I hope
when did you start buying all these new
guns
you purchased 20
th October of last
before bolsonaro could you own this gun
no you couldn't no no
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um
if this argument sounds familiar that's
because it's straight from the NRA
Playbook featured again and again in NRA
ads that's right we're the good guys
with guns they talk about the only truly
free people who have ever walked this
Earth have been armed people I'm the
National Rifle Association of America
and I'm Freedom's safest place
the NRA has a history in Brazil before
2005 the gun movement here was all but
dead Luis anacio Lula de Silva was
President then and he backed a
referendum asking voters to ban gun
sales to civilians all together
the NRA took notice so it helped
Brazil's gun lobbies strategize and
fight back
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voters were flooded with television and
radio ads about personal freedom just
like in the US
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the campaign worked voters
overwhelmingly rejected the ban
the idea that civilians ought to have a
right to an arm that is a purely
imported argument Robert mugga has been
studying Arms Control in Brazil for a
decade is there a U.S influence in
Brazil's gun culture 100 Brazilian gun
culture to some extent has been invented
and imported by U.S gun Advocates the
NRA came to Brazil to support the pro
arms campaign bringing a discourse that
has never been seen before in Brazil why
does the NRA care about Brazil and why
would the NRA care about Brazil make no
mistake the NRA understands the
importance of international rules that
could affect domestic interests at home
this is not just about access to
Firearms so this is about building
political constituencies
I think what the bolsonaro family
understand is that this is a voting
block this is a constituency they can
tap for future elections and they've
been doing that very successfully
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under bolsonaro Brazil's pro-gun
movement turned into a political
Powerhouse and it's led by Pro armas a
Lobby group founded in 2020 that's
modeled after the NRA they organized
this campaign rally back in July with
bolsonaro's son Eduardo as a keynote
speaker
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has the NRA the National Rifle
Association contributed talk about their
own campaign
s
United States
this idea that more guns equals less
crime became a rallying cry for the
pro-gun movement
homicide rates did fall by some 30
percent since 2017. a statistic
bolsonaro said was proof that guns make
people safer
but the reasons why are disputed many
criminologists attribute it to a
temporary truce between gangs among
other factors and other kinds of crimes
like violent bank robberies are on the
rise especially in the state of Sao
Paulo
wow this is just a closet full of of
guns
Chi Pedro Evo Correa Santos says all
these guns were seized during Bank
attacks what kind of gun is this
is a US rifle
AR-15 Argentina
Belgium Belgium
guns have long circulated illegally in
Brazil trafficked in from other
countries what changed under bolsonaro
is that gangs could act as high-powered
weapons through license buyers on the
legal Market
it was legal gun in the past so it's
probably sold to a hunter or a sports
shooter yes do you worry that guns are
legally in Brazil will end up in the
hands of criminals yes because you know
more girls on the streets
be more guns on criminal hands is there
a reason that
in the end event I don't know why these
girls are criminal guns I don't know why
someone want to buy a gun like this
legal guns are already spilling into the
illegal Market
in dozens of cases police have accused
licensed gun owners of arming Brazil's
most notorious gangs Brazil is already
the homicide capital of the world by
introducing this new equipment into the
markets both the legal and then into the
illegal markets we created a problem for
Brazil that's going to last Generations
does the pro-gun movement end with
bolsonaro I think Pandora's Box has been
opened and I don't see this going back
with or without bolsonaro we're going to
be seeing the pro-arms movement
continuing in its influence far after
he's gone
Boston Road lost the election by hair
less than two percent of the vote
Samurai cassador also lost he joined
thousands of other bolsonaro loyalists
in protest calling for a military
intervention
on December 24th Souza the gun collector
we interviewed at the convention was
arrested for attempting to set off a
bomb in Brasilia
during his arrest police seized a
thousand rounds and eight Firearms
including the one he showed us
[Applause]
a week later Lula took office and
immediately revoked some of bolsonaro's
gun decrees
[Music]
the postnaro's party and right-wing
Allies won control of Congress expanding
what's been dubbed the bullet caucus
program lawmakers promised to pick up
where bolsonaro left off and ensure his
U.S inspired gun Legacy lives on because
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I'm Michael larmont editor-in-chief of
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