Sheathed hunting knives and rusted hand grenades decorate the desk of Nelson de Oliveira Júnior, owner of a shooting range in São Paulo’s west zone. From his belt, he whips out and proudly brandishes a Brazilian-made Taurus 9mm pistol.
“This government wants to take guns away from good citizens,” said the former policeman as muffled shots resound from the gallery below. Like many gun enthusiasts, De Oliveira believes legal firearms are vital to keeping Brazilians safe and is critical of a clampdown by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration.
Since returning to office for a third term in January, Lula has made tightening gun controls a key pillar of his political agenda, saying the relaxation of firearms laws by previous president Jair Bolsonaro had caused “insecurity and harm to families”.