Venezuela: Can calls for gun control trump election year divides?

Venezuela has one of the highest murder rates in the world, and illegal firearms are prevalent. More than 130,000 illegal arms were turned into the state last year as part of a pilot disarmament program.

By Gimena S?nchez,?WOLA / August 27, 2012

A campaign billboard featuring Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez towers over an apartment building in Caracas, Venezuela, Aug. 21.

Fernando Llano/AP

Enlarge

? Gimena S?nchez is a contributor of WOLA?s blog: Venezuelan Politics and Human Rights. The views expressed are the author's own.

Skip to next paragraph

Recent posts

' + google_ads[0].line2 + '
' + google_ads[0].line3 + '

'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "on"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // -->

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of
The Christian Science Monitor
Weekly Digital Edition

As in many countries in the Western Hemisphere, a vigorous debate is going on in Venezuela about how to control the possession and use of illegal weapons.? Amid a climate of extreme ideological polarization and varied political agendas, perceptions and misinformation have shaped much of the opinion surrounding the arms debate in Venezuela. Even the number of guns has become a point of contention; opponents to the Chavez government claim that there exist 15 million illegal arms in a country with a total population of 28 million, while government supporters call such claims exaggerations designed to discredit the president and undercut his credibility on the eve of the October Presidential elections. Ideology aside, and whatever the numbers, the sobering fact remains that in 2010, 94 percent of homicides were committed with firearms?36 percent of the victims were youths between the ages of 15 and 28, and the majority were males from the lower economic sectors. Regardless of political preference, it is clear that illegal firearms are killing Venezuelans, and that this is an issue that requires polarization politics to take a back seat and for Venezuelans of all stripes to come together and tackle the problem.

In May 2011, the Chavez administration established the Presidential Commission on Disarmament to tackle the ongoing illegal arms issue and develop public policies that promote disarmament. The commission, which included representatives from government agencies, academics, and civil society, and whose secretariat includes the knowledgeable groups, Red de Apoyo and Centro Gumilla, was tasked with analyzing where the arms were coming from and how legal arms were entering the black market. The commission also sought to bring diverse sectors of society into the discussion by soliciting ideas on how best to the address the problem through legislation and other means.

In 2000, 15 percent of Venezuela?s arms purchases came from the United States. Since the United States banned arm sales to Venezuela, the market has been dominated by Austria and its Glock gun, though Italy and Brazil have gained a larger foothold in recent years. The main issue, however, appears not to be the volume of arms available but who has control over the arms and what they do with them. While an illegal arms trade along Venezuela?s border with Colombia still exists, most arms used in urban homicides are not contraband but arms that entered the country legally and subsequently became illegal.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/bYXAKqbz_e8/Venezuela-Can-calls-for-gun-control-trump-election-year-divides

heisman finalists kepler 22 b kepler 22 b st nicholas st nicholas mindy mccready mindy mccready