The Venezuelan Government began its Mision Wild, Wild, West today and voided today all permits to carry arms. All citizens wishing to renew their permit will be required to carry out a ballistic test on their weapon before renewing their permit at no cost.
This is a typical Chavista solution to the problem of crime and deaths every day in Venezuela, as if the criminals involved in these crimes actually had permits to carry their guns. What this truly means is that those that have legal weapons will not be able to use them for the next 90 days, criminals will continue to use them and in 90 days you will have all weapons used for defensive purposes registered and tested ballistically while a huge number of weapons, much larger than the legal ones, floats around the barrios killing people every weekend. If you don’t believe me, just watch the number of deaths next Monday in the local papers.
I don’t like weapons; I have never fired one or carried one. I am not the type that believes that there is a right to bear arms (That is part of the US Constitution, but not of ours). What I do understand is that most killings take place within the family circle and that to really prevent deaths from handguns; you have to provide something more than just a decree banning all weapons.
I am not sure what the Government intends to do with this. I could be extremely paranoid and think there is an ulterior motive, like jailing lots of opposition figures or their bodyguards in the next few weeks for carrying weapons. But in the end this is probably another shotgun solution, maybe Chavez will announce on Sunday the Mision Wild, Wild West, to stop violent deaths in the barrios, much like the other Misiones which are nothing more than propaganda ploys to raise the President’s popularity.
To stop the killings in the barrios you need more prevention in the form of police, a good judicial system and continuous confiscation of illegal weapons. But in Venezuela we seem to believe in “magic” solutions. You don’t stop crime by banning weapons, the same way you don’t stop corruption by making it illegal. Much like this decree banning weapons, Venezuela probably has had for decades one of the most advanced anti-corruption bills in the world and we all know what has happened with that problem!
Ironically, the ploy is to attack the problem of crime, one of the most important problems facing Venezuelans five years ago when they went to the polls and elected Chavez. Many Venezuelans naively believed that given Chavez’ military background, he would make this his first priority. Well, five years later, after crime has grown four fold in the last five years, the Chavez administration appears at last to be taking a stab at the problem. Unfortunately the methods and techniques are as ineffective as those being used to solve most problems in Venezuela today by the current Government.
The Devil's Excrement 
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