Javier Milei declared himself several times in favor of the free carrying of weapons, and in his campaign platform he included a proposal to advance the deregulation of this market. And since he came to power he has been advancing in that direction.
Now the Government, which had already lowered the minimum age for possession from 21 to 18 years, introduced two new developments that sparked controversy: it deepened the “modernization” of the procedures for accessing weapons, something that for critics is a barely elegant way of calling for the withdrawal of the State from this control, and it enabled the purchase of semi-automatic rifles for civilians. The Libertarian administration appears to be playing with fire.
Gunpowder. In July, the Government dissolved the National Agency for Controlled Materials (ANMAC), which had been created in 2015 with the vote of, among others, the then deputy Luis Petri. Milei transformed that agency into the defunct National Arms Registry (RENAR) and placed it under the orbit of the Ministry of Security. Part of the current controversy dates back to that moment: those who know this world assure that, due to the budget and organizational cutback that the presidential decision meant, there were less than ten inspectors left working there. This would seem to contradict the “modernization” promoted by the Government: in May it enabled “express procedures” – that is, the presentation of documents via the web – to register a weapon or become a legitimate user. The question is obvious: how can ten inspectors control in the real world the information presented virtually by almost a million users?
This doubt also grew after the Government decided on Tuesday the 18th to add “modernization” to the procedures for importing and exporting weapons, ammunition and explosives. Criticism not only came from pro-disarmament NGOs or from the opposition – “you can set certain requirements, but if you don’t have a control system afterwards, it doesn’t work,” says Matías Molle, Peronist deputy and former head of RENAR – but also from Justice. Gabriel González Da Silva, prosecutor of the Federal Fiscal Unit against Arms Trafficking, wrote on his blog: “RENAR today does not have the capacity to supervise thousands of new applications. Modernization dematerializes control: it is replaced by the illusion of a digital procedure. The consequence is that access to an authorization to acquire a semi-automatic weapon is simpler than processing a passport. The symbol is devastating: the State requires less to arm oneself than to identify oneself.”
Fire. Da Silva refers to another of the great novelties. On November 6, through resolution No. 37/25 of Renar – which gave shape to presidential decree No. 397/25 of June -, it authorized the possession of semi-automatic weapons, fed with removable magazines, for civilians. It is a substantial change: these weapons, which are the kind that can be seen in a war movie – or in a school shooting in the United States – are for combat, even when they are used in sports competitions.
This item, in fact, is the legal twist on which the Government relied on for its latest decision: the future owners of these weapons must “prove proven sporting uses.”
There are several who, however, question this purpose. “It leaves areas of interpretation open, especially regarding what can be considered a legitimate purpose,” Da Silva wrote.
For his part, Martín Angerosa, co-founder of the Argentine Network for Disarmament, assured: “The plan is to free up the carrying of weapons, they are doing it little by little. They now establish some requirements so that sporting use is verifiable, but they are weapons that can fire bursts, they are not for target shooting.”
Meanwhile, the Government continues to show itself close to Bersa, the main local company. Petri, still Minister of Defense, went to the company’s annual event and tested one of its semi-automatic rifles. Those who know this world say that Bersa wants to stay with the profitable business of arming the Army. The less regulation, the more market.
