COLOMBIA: Mayor Gustavo Petro of Bogata implements strict new gun ban in city

Record ID: 376705

  • Title: COLOMBIA: Mayor Gustavo Petro of Bogata implements strict new gun ban in city
  • Date: 11th February 2012
  • Summary: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (FILE) (REUTERS -ACCESS ALL) GENERAL VIEW OF POLICE HELICOPTER FLYING OVER BOGOTA CLOSE UP OF HELICOPTER FLYING OVER BOGOTA GENERAL VIEW OF BOGOTA
  • Embargoed: 26th February 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Colombia, Colombia
  • Country: Colombia
  • Topics: Crime,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA5EPZVF3WDDRBRM3VKJQS9OTS
  • Story Text: The Mayor of Bogota has implemented a strict new gun ban across the city in a bid to curb violent crime.
    The zero-tolerance crackdown came into force last week (February 1) and will be maintained for 90 days in a trial run. The trial could be extended if it's deemed a success.
    The campaign has a tagline 'Armar or amar?', which asks people to choose between arming themselves or loving.
    Mayor Gustavo Petro, a former guerrilla himself, has installed 'stop and search' check points, so all weapons found - including licensed ones - will be confiscated.
    Petro launched the campaign in the poor neighbourhood of El Amparo, a hotbed for crime. He talked of his own decision to renounce the use of guns and implored others to follow suit.
    He also said he was already seeing an effect of his tougher approach.
    "We are seeing the impact of the no weapons campaign. It is now starting to show good results. These are optimistic results within already optimistic results, but in the next months, we will see in more depth the effect that we have seen in the first two months in Bogota. These numbers are showing that in the first month of this administration, for different reasons, the people can be told that Bogota is a safer city," said Petro.
    Across the city, police are flagging down motorists and public transport to carry out their searches.
    Citizens that own guns legally have been told they can still keep them on private property, but they are not allowed to take them into public spaces or have them in their cars.
    Colonel Diego Felipe Hernandez said that many injuries can happen when a weapon owner is drunk.
    "We are working on have less pardons, so that we can confiscate more weapons and have fewer weapons on Bogota's streets. That is what we want. Because many times a person with a legal, permitted weapon can have some drinks and then a tragedy occurs. So, the idea is that no one carries weapons," said Hermamdez.
    Bogota struggles with high homicide rates and a bad reputation for crime with more than 1,600 murders in 2011 alone.
    Many citizens welcome the move, but critics worry that the most dangerous criminals will be savvy enough to avoid detection.
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