“Weapons and prison are great explanations of the murder modus operandi we have today,” prosecutor Carlos Negro said in a televised program.
In return, his colleague Mirta Morales announced to the newspaper El Observador that Uruguay’s society was “equipped to the teeth.”
The greater proliferation of weapons is accompanied by an increase in seizures by security forces. According to the Scientific Police, the possession record dates back to two years when 3,988 weapons were checked.
On that date, most of the business took place in the departments of Montevideo, Maldonado and Canelones with high crime rates and population densities.
Also in the Riviera, which, due to its proximity to the border with Brazil, is fertile ground for the settlement of organized crime gangs.
Special prosecutor Adriana Edelman told Radio Carve, “Now everyone has weapons and that means any problem that used to be solved in some other way is solved today through murder.”
The expert said this increase in crime and aggression is closely linked to drug trafficking and means of death.
Interior ministry sources argue that most weapons enter through land borders.
In return, the black prosecutor warned of a qualitative change in its use. He said it went from using most primary revolvers or weapons to automatic or semi-automatic weapons, the equivalent of the machine gun.
“That means the offender can fire 20 or 30 projectiles with a single pull of the trigger.” It is a question of availability, if it is available it will hurt much more, he indicated.
He also emphasized that their high prevalence makes it very easy for criminal gangs to obtain them, especially when dealing with drug smuggling attempts in the country to use Uruguay as an export port to Europe and Africa. There is a debate going on.
Prosecutor Carlos Morales expressed concern about the use of weapons by young people who also show great knowledge in handling such instruments of death.
He acknowledged that there is a huge arms market, especially in Montevideo’s “hottest” neighborhood.
According to the Interior Ministry’s Violence and Crime Observatory, the use of firearms in homicides remains above 60 percent, with various variations over the past decade.
In August 2014, a law by the government of José Mujica sought to regulate the possession, carrying, marketing and smuggling of arms and ammunition.
It could only be implemented two years later, when the relevant regulatory decree came. There, a period of one year was established for people in an unregulated position to enter the legal framework.
Despite an extension approved by Parliament, the results were regular in the first years. But in 2020 this number dropped, probably due to the situation arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021 Uruguay had a record number of registered weapons with more than 12 thousand regularization procedures, thanks to a new decree on the subject.
The Materials and Ordnance Service has registered 606 thousand 704 registered firearms in the country with a population of about 30 lakh 500 thousand residents.
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