Brazil’s Federal District will ban all toy and replica guns in an effort to reduce the country’s violent crime and promote a culture of peace.
Valeria de Velasco, minister for the protection of victims of violence in the state government, explains, “it is in search of a new culture, one of non-violence, that has to come from our children. It is a work of transformation and of cultural transformation. Toy guns don’t kill, but they symbolize an attitude.”
Beginning in 2014, any shop selling toy or replica guns will face a fee of 5,000 – 100,000 real (2,245 – 44,907 USD) and will be closed for thirty days or lose their trading license. The Brazilian territory, which includes the capital city Brasilia, will be the first region in Latin America to enforce the ban.
Out of Brazil’s population of 200 million, 43,000 violent deaths were recorded last year; 73% of these from firearms. Within the past two months, five cases of entire families being murdered were reported. Additionally, the Brazilian Centre for Latin-American Studies reports that Brazil’s homicide rate rose from 24.8 per 100,000 inhabitants in 1996 to 27.1 per 100,000 in 2011.
11 schools in Ceilandia, the most violent city within Brazil’s Federal District, were first to pilot the campaign. Students were encouraged to create anti-violence designs and trade toy guns for books; 502 toy weapons were traded during the campaign. De Celasco said “this intervention enforced the importance of this law, how children assimilate new concepts and adopt them as theirs. Children are going to take this discussion to schools, to their families and to the community in general.”
Parents are reportedly highly supportive of the initiative. Neido do Nascimento, mother of three children in Ceilandia said “I think it’s marvelous. This law should have been made before. We lost a lot of time. We lost a lot of lives.”
Creative Commons Love: Gustavo Gomes on Flickr.com
Written by Rachel Pozivenec