Citation(s) from the Gun Policy News media archive

Print Close

Why Have Applications to Carry and Possess Weapons Tripled?

¿Por qué las solicitudes de porte y tenencia de armas se triplicaron?

Tiempo (Colombia)

18 March 2021

Relevant contents

In 2021, 3,577 permits have been requested, of which 826 were approved.

The introduction in Congress of a bill aimed at relaxing restrictions on the carrying of weapons, in force in the country since December 2015, reignited controversy… some sectors insist on the need to allow Colombians to be armed.

EL TIEMPO obtained a report from the Department of Control, Commerce of Arms, Ammunition and Explosives (DCCAE) of the Armed Forces in the country, which states that to date there are 690,859 firearms registered in the country…. Of these, 281,360 are reported for possession - in a specific place - and 409,499 for carrying.

For the last six years, the latter permit has required a special procedure that is granted after fulfilling several requirements that justify its necessity, such as the applicant's proof that his or her security, or even his or her life, is at risk. These special permits are processed by military units, and can be regional, only for carrying the weapon in the department where the applicant resides, or national, which allows the weapon to be carried throughout the country.

Permits must be renewed every year, and a special committee is in charge of approving or denying applications on the grounds of "urgency or security". In the year to date, 3,577 applications for special permits to carry arms have been received. Of these, 3,225 have been for regional carrying, of which 807 were approved, and 352 for national carrying, of which only 19 were approved. In other words, an average of 47 applications have been made each day this year.

The figure represents an increase of 284 per cent in applications for special permits compared to the average number of applications made each day in 2020 (16.5).

In the whole of last year, 6,055 applications were received. Of these, 5,537 were for regional permits, with 4,301 approved and 518 national, of which 466 were approved.

ID: N824

As many publishers change their links and archive their pages, the full-text version of this article may no longer be available from the original link. In this case, please go to the publisher's web site or use a search engine.

Array
(
    [type] => 8
    [message] => Trying to get property 'websource' of non-object
    [file] => /home/gpo/public_html/components/com_gpo/helpers/citation.php
    [line] => 172
)