congratulations Brazil

[Jimbo Gomez]

You stopped that ban on firearms.

Hurray Brazil! (x 3)

[Felix the Cat]

Brazilians reject ban on gun sales (http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/10/23/brazil.gun.referendum.ap/index.html)

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) -- Brazilians struck down a proposal to ban the sale of guns in a national referendum, rejecting a bid to stem one of the world's highest firearm murder rates in a debate that mirrored the gun control battle in the United States.

Brazil has 100 million fewer citizens than the United States, but a staggering 25 percent more gun deaths at nearly 40,000 a year.

While supporters argued gun control was the best way to stop the violence, opponents played on Brazilians' fears that the police can't protect them in the campaign leading up to Sunday's vote.

"I don't like people walking around armed on the street. But since all the bandits have guns, you need to have a gun at home," said taxi driver Mohammed Osei, who voted against the ban.

With more than 92 percent of the votes counted, 64 percent of Brazilians opposed the ban, while 36 percent backed it, said election officials, giving the "no" position an insurmountable lead.

The proposal would have prohibited the sale of firearms and ammunition except for police, the military, some security guards, gun collectors and sports shooters. It would complement a 2003 disarmament law that sharply restricts who can legally purchase firearms and carry guns in the street.

That law, coupled with a government-sponsored gun buyback program, has reduced deaths from firearms by about 8 percent this year, the Health Ministry said.

But the referendum backfired for proponents. Earlier this year, support for the ban was running as high as 80 percent. But in the weeks before the vote, both sides got free time to present their cases on prime-time TV, and the pro-gun lobby began to gain traction.

Analysts said the pro-gun lobby benefited from equal time on television in the final weeks of the campaign and that they cannily cashed in on Brazilian skepticism of the police.

"They ask the question: 'Do you feel protected and do you think the government is protecting you?' and the answer is a violent no," said political scientist David Fleischer of the University of Brasilia.

[Jimbo Gomez]

Lesson learned: next time don't give the defenders of common sense a way to voice their arguments.