The relaxation of restrictions in 2019 on weapons previously limited to security forces, such as 9 mm semi-automatic pistols, during Jair Bolsonaro’s first year in office, led to some of these weapons being diverted into the hands of criminals.

This finding is contained in the study Arsenal do Crime (Arsenal of Crime), released this week by the Sou da Paz Institute, a non-profit organization that advocates for the disarmament of society.

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The survey shows that seizures of 9 mm pistols more than doubled from 2018 to 2023. In 2018, there were 2,995 seizures, a number that jumped to 6,568 in 2023, representing an increase of 119 percent.

The data refer to four Brazilian states in the southeast: Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo.

In 2018, the 9 mm caliber was the fifth most seized in the country. It represented 7.4 percent of the total industrial weapons. By 2023, it was already the second most common, with 18.8 percent of seizures, second only to the 38 mm revolver. During this period, a total of 255,000 weapons were seized.

Collectors, sport shooters, and hunters

The Sou da Paz study links the increase in seizures to the 2019 decree issued during the Jair Bolsonaro administration, which made it easier for collectors, sport shooters, and hunters (CACs) to obtain weapons.

Among that government’s determinations, 9 mm pistols were no longer considered for the exclusive use of security forces. In addition, sport shooters could obtain up to 30 weapons. Since the election campaign, the relaxation of gun use - framed as an attribute of the freedom of defense - had been one of the banners of then-candidate Jair Bolsonaro.

Researchers at Sou da Paz believe that this relaxation has led to a transformation in the illegal arms market in southeastern Brazil.

“The shift from revolvers to pistols represents a dramatic increase in the offensive capacity of criminals,” the study notes.

The document explains that while revolvers are limited to five or six shots and require a slow reloading procedure, pistols allow almost instantaneous reloading and use magazines with 12 or more rounds, enabling rapid and continuous firing.

The document also points out that the 9 mm caliber expels the projectile with 40 percent more energy and greater range.

Bruno Langeani, project coordinator at the Sou da Paz Institute, says that easing access to firearms “has allowed a large influx of this more powerful weapon into the legal market.”

“This has led to a very high number of such weapons in private homes, which allows for what we call good-faith diversion - when someone who bought a weapon for sport shooting or self-defense has it stolen or robbed,” he adds.

In addition, he states that the change in regulation was “very poorly done and with little oversight.”

“It opened the door for bad-faith diversion - a faction recruiting someone with no criminal record to buy these weapons and then divert them to crime,” explains Langeani.

The institute’ survey also presents information on the seizure of larger weapons. From 2018 to 2023, the recovery of rifles, machine guns, and submachine guns grew by 55.8 percent in the southeastern states, from 1,115 to 1,738.

In the specific case of rifles, Rio de Janeiro recorded 3,076 seizures - more than double the number in the other three states combined (1,411).

Stricter rules

In 2023, a month after the change of government, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva launched a re-registration process for weapons held by the public.

“It is very important, and it requires a segment of the Federal Police to look into these purchases and verify whether the weapons are no longer in their owners’ possession,” argues the coordinator of the Sou da Paz Institute.

In July 2023, a decree restored the exclusive use of 9 mm pistols to security forces.

Another measure taken by the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva administration was to transfer responsibility for overseeing the registration of CACs from the Army to the Federal Police. The measure was signed in 2023, and the transfer of jurisdiction took effect in the second half of the year.

As one way to reduce the number of weapons in the hands of criminals, Bruno Langeani argues that more states should have police stations specialized in combating arms trafficking, known as Desarmes, which are currently present in only six of Brazil’s 27 states.

The city of São Paulo and its metropolitan area still have more than 800,000 consumers without electricity, two days after strong winds caused damage in several locations.

The phenomenon was caused by the arrival of an extratropical cyclone associated with a cold front and knocked down more than 330 trees, many of which fell onto the cable network and cut off the power supply.

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At the height of the problem, the metropolitan region of São Paulo had more than 2.2 million customers without electric service. By the end of Thursday (Dec. 11), there were still 1.3 million consumers without electricity.

According to the energy distributor Enel, 802,474 customers remain without the service. In the city of São Paulo, the number is 585,000 consumers, equivalent to 10 percent of the total.

No forecast available

Enel reported that it has restored power suply to about 1.2 million customers out of a total of 2 million affected. The company did not provide a forecast for when the more than 800,000 remaining consumers will have their electric service back. Enel notes that some of the cases are complex and require the replacement of poles and transformers, which takes more time to complete.

Data from the São Paulo State Public Security Secretariat (SSP-SP) show that from January to October 2025, 53 cases of femicide were recorded in the city of São Paulo. This is the highest annual figure since 2018, even without including the months of November and December.

Throughout the state of São Paulo, 207 femicides were recorded from January to October of this year. In the same period last year, there were 191. This represents an increase of 8 percent when considering the first ten months of the year.

“The crime of femicide was defined in federal law in March 2015. From then on, cases began to be counted separately from other types of homicide. The law classifies a murder as femicide when it involves domestic or family violence, or contempt or discrimination against the victim’s status as a woman. Penalties for the crime range from twelve to thirty years in prison.”

According to data from the SSP-SP, in 2025, the capital surpassed the number of cases recorded in all previous years, even without counting November and December.

Year	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025 (until October)
Cases	29	44	40	33	41	38	51	53

Combat

Through a statement, the SSP-SP said that combating violence against women is a priority for the state government, and that the secretariat maintains several initiatives focused on the issue, including the so-called Lilac Booth, which has already provided approximately 14,000 services to women victims of violence throughout the state of São Paulo.

The project, initially implemented in the capital, was expanded to Greater São Paulo and to the interior of the state, with units in the regions of Campinas, São José dos Campos, Bauru, São José do Rio Preto, Sorocaba, Presidente Prudente, and Piracicaba.

“Created for the first time within the scope of the Military Police Operations Center (Copom), the Lilac Booth offers humanized assistance provided by female police officers trained to support and guide victims of domestic violence. The officers supply information on protective measures, reporting channels, and support services, and can also dispatch patrol cars when necessary,” she explained.

According to the SSP-SP, there are 142 territorial Women’s Defense Police Stations (DDMs) in the state, and the number of twenty-four-hour DDM rooms has expanded by 174.1 percent, reaching 170 spaces in police stations, where victims can be assisted by videoconference by a female officer.