Jair Bolsonaro wants every Brazilian to have a gun

“I ALWAYS HAD the American dream,” says Bernardo Mattos, sitting outside his shooting club in Rio de Janeiro. “Thank God, I fulfilled that dream.” Since he launched his club in 2018 membership has risen steadily—particularly so during the past year of pandemic. Now around 350 people come through his doors to rattle off rounds. Mr Mattos, who says he was trained by the United States armed forces, broadcasts his views to even more. He has nearly 90,000 followers on social media. He encourages whole families to shoot together; 14-year-olds are allowed to do so if accompanied by an instructor. “I succeeded in bringing the gun ideology I saw in the United States to Brazil,” he beams.

Brazil’s relationship with guns goes back a long way. In the 1970s gun ownership was commonplace in the countryside, where most people lived, recalls Ivan Marques, a lawyer and the chairman of Control Arms, an NGO. By the 1980s guns were ubiquitous and rules for buying them were lax. Even supermarkets sold them. But a rise in shootings triggered stricter laws. In 2003 Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a left-wing president, signed one that prevented ordinary citizens from buying guns—only those in the armed forces, police and prison guards could do so. It also raised the minimum age and required a background check. Although this helped temper the rise in gun deaths for a while, Brazil remained a violent place, with many illegal firearms. With 22 killings per 100,000 people each year, it has one of the world’s highest rates of gun deaths.