Unironically, that's where the wild west went. There's too much history to go over, but it's literally true.
That being said, the gun crime situation in Brazil is extreme. Cartels and Gangs dominate the Favellas, and the government just made stronger gun control. The reason you see so many "off-duty cops" shooting criminals in Brazil is because many of the on-duty ones can't carry. The punishment for stealing a cop's gun is severe, so the robbers kill every single person who they steal a gun from. The police managed to get some exceptions into the law/legal system so they could carry guns off-duty. In fact, on-duty police shootings are under even more legal scrutiny than American cops.
What this means is that even if you're an on-duty cop in Brazil, you don't want to be seen with a gun because you'll be murdered for it. You also don't want to use a gun on duty because you'll catch a charge for it. So every cop carries off-duty, and basically no one else does. And when they get into a gunfight off duty, they are much more likely to get off.
What Bolsonaro did was loosen those restrictions, and allow for more uses of self-defense.
Thanks for the insight. Aside from the obvious internet searches is there a book or article that you can recommend that goes deeper into the history. I am pretty familiar with the Portuguese era and am curious how brazil was like in 1900-current.
Holy shit it's like the wild west in brazil man.
Unironically, that's where the wild west went. There's too much history to go over, but it's literally true.
That being said, the gun crime situation in Brazil is extreme. Cartels and Gangs dominate the Favellas, and the government just made stronger gun control. The reason you see so many "off-duty cops" shooting criminals in Brazil is because many of the on-duty ones can't carry. The punishment for stealing a cop's gun is severe, so the robbers kill every single person who they steal a gun from. The police managed to get some exceptions into the law/legal system so they could carry guns off-duty. In fact, on-duty police shootings are under even more legal scrutiny than American cops.
What this means is that even if you're an on-duty cop in Brazil, you don't want to be seen with a gun because you'll be murdered for it. You also don't want to use a gun on duty because you'll catch a charge for it. So every cop carries off-duty, and basically no one else does. And when they get into a gunfight off duty, they are much more likely to get off.
What Bolsonaro did was loosen those restrictions, and allow for more uses of self-defense.
Thanks for the insight. Aside from the obvious internet searches is there a book or article that you can recommend that goes deeper into the history. I am pretty familiar with the Portuguese era and am curious how brazil was like in 1900-current.
Not in this case. This is mostly just what I've learned from the guys over at r/Brasillaver ? I can't remember how it's spelled.
Basically it was r-Brasil but more based because r-Brasil was rabid communists.