By Arkady Petrov
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – While he had admitted to not having had the time to take a closer look at the arms decree signed by his father, President Jair Bolsonaro, deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PSL-SP) spoke in defense of the right to possess weapons this Thursday, 9th, during a meeting sponsored by the Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Institute (IPCO).
IPCO is an association born out of the Tradition, Family, and Property (TFP) movement and one which defines itself as an association created to preserve Christian Civilization.
The cultural revolution, the Bolsonaro government, and the right to self-defense was the theme of the forum held at Club Homs on Avenida Paulista, which attracted supporters of the monarchy, Bolsonaristas, and members of IPCO.
Throughout the auditorium, boys sporting golden bands across their chests assisted the nearly 600 guests in getting settled and invited them to purchase books, pins, and hats from the institute at an impromptu on-site store.
In addition to the deputy, other attendees included Prince Imperial Dom Bertrand de Orleans e Bragança, and colonel Jairo Paes de Lira, former São Paulo metropolitan military police commander and president of the Brazilian Association for Self Defense.
On the stage itself, the image of Our Lady of Fátima watched over the proceedings with an unflinching gaze.
A restless Bolsonaro asked the other participants at the table if he could have the floor. What followed resembled a stand-up routine in defense of the right to possess and carry weapons.
In his address, the deputy used an analogy, namely, that driving a car is harder than using a firearm.
He went further and referred to a concept he called the softening of society. According to him, disarmament has made citizens pass their own responsibilities on to others, to third parties, so to speak.
As if the government was in a position to defend all people. Defending your home when someone breaks in is not the police’s responsibility. Obviously, they will be called into action and will do the best they can. But when someone breaks into your home, you are still the first line of defense.
In the same spiel, the deputy was tongue-in-cheek in saying that the idea of disarming the populace would come from “democrats” like Hitler, Fidel Castro, Nicolás Maduro, and Luís Inácio Lula da Silva.
He also said that so many in the country die like deer in the headlights due to cellphones “because criminals only respect what they fear”.
There were moments when he even managed to slip in attacks on human rights, the press, and the so-called “dictatorship of political correctness” (which, according to the deputy, would force us to call fat people thin or force a guy to get with the times by greeting his male colleagues with a kiss).
He also left the door open to the future possibility that the decree could make progress on the unrestricting of other gauges, and bring other victories to firearm owners.
The deputy asked those in attendance to support his father’s government. He was met with rousing applause from the audience.
In his remarks, colonel Paes de Lira also defended the presidential decree and said that the goal of disarming the populace was to “emasculate the country” by robbing kids and the newer generations of firearms.
Prince Dom Bertrand de Orleans’s remarks were brief. He stated that Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira (the first president of TFP) would be happy with what was being discussed at the meeting.
He also pointed out that the right to defend oneself and one’s property are natural human rights and not concessions to be made by the State.
At the end of it all, despite the presence of royalty, the one who got the royal treatment was actually deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro.
An entourage of fans and voters closed in on him to get pictures & selfies, record videos, and ask for autographs.
One woman in close proximity to the commotion surrounding the politician claimed that he was a true prince. Luckily Dom Bertrand didn’t get wind of that. He might have taken offense.