Brasília - Today the president of the Senate, Renan Calheiros (PMDB-AL), will be in Campinas (SP) to open the country's disarmament campaign, officially known as the Parliamentary Front for a Brazil without Firearms. The idea is to mobilize support for a "yes" vote on October 23 when voters will be asked if they want to halt the sale of firearms (and ammunition) in Brazil.

Calheiros declared that the only beneficiaries of the sale of guns and ammunition in Brazil are the people who sell them and the manufacturers. "We can no longer live with the image of Brazil as world champion of deaths by firearms. They kill more than 104 people every day, more than double the number of people who die in traffic accidents. The firearms market has no scruples," he said.

Meanwhile deputy Raul Jungmann (PPS-PE), the secretary general of the front against firearms, declared that there will be show and rally in Rio on August 11. "We have to have an open debate on this issue. The question of the sale of firearms and ammunition involves other problems, such as police action, the judiciary and the prison system," he said.

Translator: Allen Bennett