RIO DE JANEIRO, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Most Brazilians are against the changes proposed by President Jair Bolsonaro to significantly relax gun possession regulations, according to a survey published on Friday by pollster Datafolha Institute.
According to Datafolha, one of the country's major polling institutes, 70 percent Brazilians reject the attempt to make it much easier for citizens to purchase and keep firearms. Another 28 percent agree with the proposed changes and the remaining two percent are undecided or indifferent.
Since Bolsonaro took office in January, he has proposed several changes to gun control laws. He first tried to change the regulations through a decree and was met with some resistance, as parts of the decree were considered illegal. A decree cannot replace existing laws, and congressional approval is needed to change a law.
Then Bolsonaro revoked his own decree, issued three others and sent a bill to the Congress with the parts of the first decree which require congressional approval. The bill has yet to be voted on.
The Datafolha Institute interviewed 2,086 people from 130 cities all over Brazil on July 4 and 5. The margin of error is two percentage points.
