President Guillermo Lasso issued a decree allowing the carrying of weapons by civilians who request it and meet the conditions laid down in the same decree. This has caused concern and many opinions about its desirability and whether it can make it easier for criminals to obtain guns legally. It is necessary, therefore, to inform the public that this was allowed in the past and that it was not the cause of a disturbance of social peace or an increase in crime. It was President Rafael Correa who banned the continuation of this practice provided by law.

Before the ban, a person who sought to exercise this regulated right went to the Joint Command of the Armed Forces, presented his weapons, justified ownership of them and underwent prescribed tests that included knowledge of small civilian weapons. and a psychological examination by a professional psychologist. The weapon is registered.

With quotas and only with regulated companies, weapons and ammunition for civilian use were imported before the 2007 ban.

These tests, the required requirements and the registration of weapons excluded the interest of criminals; They have an illegal market and can acquire long, automatic weapons, such as rifles and machine guns, without any record to identify them.

There is, therefore, no reason to be alarmed by the decree which restores the fundamental right of people to defend their lives, their own and those of others. It is also the right to freedom, to go out, to mobilize, to go to work; It can also be a deterrent. In the countryside, it is important to be able to defend property, livestock from rustling, fisheries from robbers; in cities, protect houses. It is impossible for the police to provide protection to so many people and property in such different and separate places.

Transfer of weapons

minor dementia

As for private guards, you have to be very rigorous about giving them licenses to carry weapons; training should be organized together with security companies. In Colombia, the infamous paramilitary forces were formed from private guards to protect large coffee plantations.

With such a changing world, with so much technological innovation, security practices may change a lot, but security doctrines remain unchanged; There are people who have devoted their lives, or a large part of them, to deepening and systematizing these doctrines. The authorities should use their advice.

I consider the decree permitting the bearing of arms to be sound, but somewhat diffused, by which it will lose some of its efficacy; Its implementation must be entrusted to a single person: the Joint Command of the Armed Forces, as it has done before, and it has worked well, very well. Steering committees, with representatives from many parties and institutions, only confuse things, make it difficult to make decisions. If the Ministry of Health is to participate, in the psychological field, send a professional to join the headquarters of the Joint Command. That everything is centralized. (OR)