- Title: Spooked by crime, Ecuadoreans train to carry guns for self-defense
- Date: 30th May 2023
- Summary: QUITO, ECUADOR (FILE - APRIL 29, 2023) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MEN FIRING DURING BODYGUARD TRAINING VARIOUS OF TRAINERS GIVING INSTRUCTIONS GUNS ON TABLE VARIOUS OF TRAINER SHOWING GUNS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) INSTRUCTOR AT CEFORSIN GUN RANGE, MARIO QUINATO, SAYING: "People want to arm themselves and protect themselves because insecurity is really high right now and security fo
- Embargoed: 13th June 2023 13:58
- Keywords: Ecuador Quito guns violence
- Location: QUITO, ECUADOR
- City: QUITO, ECUADOR
- Country: Ecuador
- Topics: South America / Central America,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001596229052023RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Spurred by rising violent crime and increased gang activity, a growing number of Ecuadoreans are learning to use guns in the hope of protecting themselves from crime, four firearm instructors and their pupils said.
Dozens of people are training at the country's few shooting ranges after conservative President Guillermo Lasso signed an April decree allowing civilians to carry guns for self-defense after completing a strict approval process.
The decree is part of efforts by Lasso - who dissolved the national assembly and called early elections last week amid an impeachment attempt - to reduce soaring violence on the streets and in prisons, which the government blames on drug gangs.
Despite several states of emergency declarations and other measures, violent deaths rose 69% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023 in Guayaquil, considered the country's most dangerous city, to 555 killings.
Ecuador ranked as one of Latin America's most violent countries in 2022, with fewer homicides than Colombia but more than Mexico, according to InSight Crime. A wider regional uptick in violence has seen surging interest in guns for self protection even in Chile, one of the region's safer countries.
"People want to arm themselves and protect themselves because insecurity is really high right now and security forces can't cope," said Mario Quinatoa, an instructor at the Ceforsin gun range in Quito.
Former President Rafael Correa banned civilian possession of firearms in 2011, citing insecurity, and gun ranges have only been open to those who participate in shooting as a sport and security guards and bodyguards in training.
Gun imports are also prohibited, but the government is evaluating requirements for who might be allowed to sell them.
"You won't be able to go to the corner store and say 'give me a pistol or a revolver', you have to comply with requirements," National Security Secretary Wagner Bravo told Reuters.
Only 9-mm pistols and 38-caliber revolvers are authorized for civilian use under the decree.
Those authorized to carry guns must be older than 25, have no criminal record or history of domestic violence, and pass psychological and firearm abilities exams.
People need at least 30 hours of training to learn to use a pistol and get familiar with rules governing its use, said gun instructors.
That training does not guarantee someone will be approved for a gun permit, he added.
Margarita Alvarado, who closed her small salon in Quito's north after being threatened by extortionists, said she would have liked a gun to defend herself, though she added she does not feel psychologically prepared to use it.
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