A rare school shooting occurred in Brazil just months after loosened gun laws went into effect
Tragedy struck in Suzano, Brazil, a town just outside of São Paolo, on Wednesday when two gunmen opened fire on a school, killing six children and two school employees. Students at the school range from 11 to 18 years old.
The two gunmen, aged 25 and 17, took their own lives when police arrived on the scene. They were carrying a .38 revolver, a crossbow, a bow, arrows, and explosive devices, The Guardian reported. The homicide rate in Brazil is high, but school shootings are very rare, per The Guardian.
The shooting has also reignited a debate about gun control in the country, Bloomberg reports. Brazil's controversial, newly-elected president, Jair Bolsonaro, passed a decree in Janaury that made it far easier for citizens to purchase guns. Bolsonaro won the election thanks, in part, to "tough law-and-order talk" as he tapped into citizen's fears about the nation's rising crime rate.
The decree waived the requirement for a gun-purchaser to interview with federal police to demonstrate their need to keep a gun at home.
"It is a gateway to violence and terrible news for public security," said Renato Lima, president of the Brazilian Public Security Forum, an NGO, told The Guardian when the Bolsanaro issued the decree.