2616 ISS ASR 15.2.indd

This case study examines how public health data from the Brazilian Ministry of Health was used by activists and government officials to advocate for gun violence prevention and the 2003 Disarmament Statute. While data successfully shifted public discourse by framing gun violence as a health epidemic and debunking myths about self-protection, it proved insufficient to secure a 'yes' vote in the October 2005 national referendum to prohibit the sale of guns and ammunition, which was defeated by 64% of voters.

• Brazil experienced extreme levels of gun violence in the early 2000s, with 38,088 gun deaths recorded in 2002, the highest number of any country globally at that time. Gun violence rates increased from 7.2 per 100,000 residents in 1982 to 21.2 per 100,000 in 2002.
• Public health data revealed that gun violence disproportionately affects young men and specific racial groups. In 2002, the risk of death by firearm for men aged 20-29 was five times higher than for the general population. Mortality rates were also significantly higher for black populations (30.1 per 100,000) compared to white populations (16.6 per 100,000) in 2002.
• The Brazilian Ministry of Health utilizes two primary systems for tracking gun violence: the Mortality Information System (SIM), which provides a 25-year historical series starting in 1979, and the Hospitalisations Information System (SIH), which has recorded injury data since 1998.
• Data from the SIH was used to challenge the 'myth' that guns provide safety, showing that one in three gun-related hospitalizations were unintentional. Furthermore, firearm injuries were found to be more lethal and costly than motor vehicle injuries, with a lethality rate of 8.9% compared to 4.4% for traffic injuries.
• The 2003 Disarmament Statute led to a voluntary weapons collection campaign that gathered approximately 470,000 guns within 15 months. In Rio de Janeiro state alone, the NGO Viva Rio collected nearly 12,000 guns across 59 posts.
• A 2005 report from the Rio de Janeiro state government indicated that 72% of crime guns seized by police had once been legally owned, with 65% of those registered guns previously belonging to civilians.
• The October 2005 referendum to prohibit the sale of guns and ammunition to civilians failed, with 64% of voters choosing 'no'. The failure is attributed to a lack of trust in the government and police due to corruption and brutality, the pro-gun lobby's effective emotional appeals regarding 'rights', and confusion over the voting process.

APA

Institute for Security Studies (n.d.). 2616 ISS ASR 15.2.indd. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/15_2F2.PDF

Chicago

Institute for Security Studies. 2616 ISS ASR 15.2.indd. n.d. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/15_2F2.PDF.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Security Studies |title=2616 ISS ASR 15.2.indd |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/15_2F2.PDF |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforsecuritystudiesnd2616, author = {{Institute for Security Studies}}, title = {{2616 ISS ASR 15.2.indd}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/15_2F2.PDF}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }