News reports just out that an "undisclosed number" (but at least 80) of high powered assault rifles have simply vanished from the police armory of GARRA (Grupo Armado de Repressão a Roubos e Assaltos) an elite group of the Civil Police in São Paulo. While the matter is subject to a secret investigation by the police themselves the main suspect in the "disappearance" is a Civil Police Investigator with 20 years on the job.
This would be shocking news if it were an isolated incident, sadly it is far from that. Every year there are a number of such news reports of large scale thefts of heavy weaponry from police and military armories and prison complexes all over Brazil. In one case armed bandits staged an assault on a Military Armory that was protected only by a (civilian) security guard. He was overpowered and the bandits made of with countless high-powered weapons. Every year there are dozens of thefts of dynamite from large construction sites and mining operations throughout Brazil too. There seems to be almost no regulations whatsoever regarding the secure storage of armaments or explosives and certainly if there are any they're clearly not being observed even by the police.
We don't need somebody to draw us a roadmap to know that all these weapons and explosives end up in the hands of organized crime, to fuel the drug trade and equipe bank robbers and supply explosives to those who are blowing up ATMs all over Brazil. Sad to say the police have always been outgunned and outmanned by organized crime and it appears that this isn't going to change anytime soon based on the lax control they have over their own weaponry.
I'm sorry, but a nation that shows itself to be wholly incapable of providing for the secure storage of their own weapons cannot be considered to be one bit different from the arms traffickers they claim to be fighting. In fact, in my opinion they should be counted among that group.
And they want to make sure that the average law abiding citizen in this country cannot own a weapon for their own protection and defense? What's that all about?
Cheers,
William James Woodward, Expat-blog Experts Team
Why disarmament is not working in Brazil
Sad but true!
The government will have to do something eventually... and it really doesn't come down to who overpowers who in the end, because what a waste of lives and resources that would be. Longer term aims need to be set with focus on the solution of the most evident root cause. The trouble is nothing will be done be the government until they get a slight feeling of pressure that directly starts be problematic for them. The problem will always be lack of empathy for those who struggle and lack of empathy and understanding of why they resort to such extreme crime. I'm sure there are loads of problems created by the concious decision to do nothing. If there is neither no real pride embedded in the culture to overturn and no empathy to enable stable change, there will be no change ever made.
Unfortunately as sad as it may be to say, I believe my generation and at-least the next to follow will be lost to the same pains. people have seen nothing really changes by going on strike, at-least nothing that really makes a sizeable difference but it's all they might feel they can do, I feel terrible for people who feel so desperate and sometimes more so for those who have been born into families and classes that do not know any different, what really are they going to do if all they know and all they have learn't is the way they understand to succeed? . They also know deep down that a more violent approach will do nothing and have a backlash effect.
Obviously any changes that can happen that are good for the people are welcome but the biggest focus in order to change Brazil are in the children, thus education has to be the prime focus, and I don't only mean education which will give them a biggest capitalist edge, it has to be far more dynamic than that. It has to be a system that can manifest empathy efficiently on the highest possible level. Studies have shown how much the human organism can change and strive to be closer to others through practice of certain collaborative acts.. and our own personal thoughts and behaviours. It's pretty obvious that a more holistic approach in the early stages of peoples lives is paramount should a nation want to achieve reputation which shows growth and order (just a guess it's on the flag)
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