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A new resolution, published in the Official Journal on Wednesday (01/06) will allow Military Police officers from the paid reserve – currently about 10.000 – to request the safekeeping of firearms belonging to the State of Rio. They will be able to request the weapons in the battalions closest to their homes and will be allowed to receive in addition to the pistol up to three chargers and at least 50 rounds of ammunition. This measure will be backed by a procedure of control, every four years: the policeman will be summoned by the Veterans and Pensioners Directory (DVP) and will have to undergo instruction in weapons and firearms as well as health inspection. This measure is not unanimously supported and specialists in public security are worried. Robson Rodrigues, a retired Military Police Colonel, anthropologist and researcher at the Laboratory for Analysis of Violence at the Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ) points out his concern that more guns will be put on the streets which could lead to problem of control. He also questions the spending of the measure: these guns are paid by the society for police officers who are now out of the work circuit.
