Brazilian “Right-wing” candidate Bolsonaro winning over voters with promise to “Give guns to good people”

Brazil has the highest murder rate of any developed country, so it isn’t surprising that people want to do something to protect themselves.  “Right-wing” presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro won 46% of the vote in the first round election this past Sunday, massively outdoing the second place candidate for the Workers Party who got only 29.3%. The media has characterized Bolsonaro’s solution as a “simple recipe for ending violence.”

Jair Bolsonaro topped the poll in the first round of Brazil’s presidential elections, having seduced tens of millions of voters with simple — though radical — solutions to eradicating violence in one of the world’s deadliest countries.

For many, Bolsonaro has the answer to the question that has preoccupied them for years — how to lower the crime rate in a country with more than seven murders an hour?

“Give guns to good people,” the former paratrooper insisted during campaign meetings. . . .

Bolsonaro wants to arm women “so they can defend themselves, increase penalties for rapists and introduce chemical castration.” . . .