Colombia: Ex-Guerrilla President Announces Plan to End Gun Ownership
Colombia’s far-left President Gustavo Petro announced a plan to end the nation’s special permit to carry weapons in remarks during a Security Council meeting on Wednesday — a plan that would leave Colombians with no legal way of owning firearms.
In the Security Council meeting, called by Mayor of Bogotá Claudia López, Petro, a former member of the Marxist M19 guerrilla, insisted that a complete disarmament of the Colombian capital must occur and that such disarmament must be expanded to the entire country.
“A much more effective disarmament plan than the one we even started in Bogotá some time ago throughout the country. I think that even special weapons permits should be eliminated,” Petro asserted.
Hours before Petro began his presidency on August 7, he proposed the elimination of special firearm carry permits, commenting that firearms should not be in civilian hands.
“I believe that we should reach, via reforms, a point where the weapons are really not in the hands of civilians, which means that there should be no special permits,” Petro said.
Petro already has experience in gun control, having banned citizens from carrying firearms in the city of Bogotá in 2012 during his tenure as mayor.
Article 223 of Colombia’s constitution states: “the government alone may make available and manufacture weapons, ammunition, and explosives. No one may possess them or carry them without permission from the competent authority.”
Obtaining a firearm carrying permit in Colombia involves a rigorous process enforced by the corresponding military authorities that includes extensive background and financial checks, psychophysical evaluations, and passing a course in the proper handling of firearms.
All regular firearm carry permits have been suspended in Colombia since 2016 via a decree signed by then-President Juan Manuel Santos. Since then, the decree has been extended on yearly basis. Petro’s predecessor, Iván Duque signed an extension of the decree that suspends firearm carry permits throughout 2022.
As such, a special weapon permit is currently the only available method for a Colombian citizen to be able to legally carry arms in the South American nation.
To obtain a special permit one must be in possession of a regular permit and comply with an even stricter series of background checks and authorizations, with specific exceptions issued to high-ranking members of the Colombian government, members of the Diplomatic Corps accredited in the South American nation, and private security groups, among others.
The suspension of firearms permits has not stopped an ongoing violent crime wave in the country. For example, 77 percent of the homicides reported in the Colombian city of Cartagena during the first four months of this year involved the use of firearms. Armed robberies in broad daylight are commonplace in Bogotá.
A total of 11 killings have occurred in Colombia since Petro assumed the nation’s presidency in August 07, with 36 dead in eight triple homicides and three quadruple homicides.
Colombian lawmakers María Fernanda Cabal and Christian Garcés had unsuccessfully attempted to legalize access to gun carry permits for Colombian citizens in 2021, which would have allowed Colombian citizens legal access to firearms once more.
“Whoever commits a crime knows that he does not do it with a legal weapon and knows that the other [the victim] is unarmed, ” said Congresswoman Cabal on a video posted on Twitter in 2021. “The problem is not the weapons themselves, but who uses them and for what.”
