LatinNews Daily Report - 19 September 2013

SECURITY | New gun control law. On 18 September Bolivia’s President Evo Morales promulgated law 400 on gun control. Defence Minister Rubén Saavedra pointed out that this is the first time Bolivia will have such a law in place, as part of the government’s efforts to tackle citizen insecurity. In late June, on the sidelines of a national security summit, Interior Minister Carlos Romero admitted that the national homicide rate was on the rise, reaching 11 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2012. According to latest available data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (Unodc), Bolivia’s homicide rate was 8.9 per 100,000 in 2010. Saavedra explained that the new law requires people to have a licence to carry a weapon and sets a 180-day deadline (from 18 September) for gun owners, who are meant to be registered, to obtain a licence or hand over their firearms. It also establishes prison sentences of between 10 and 30 years for arms trafficking; the maximum sentence applies to police and military officials.