Referendum today in Brazil. The country seems to have voted not to ban the commercial sale of handguns. (Link on the bbc site not working.)

Most people I knew were in favour of the ban. Only my more extreme anarchist brother-in-law argued that the ban would disempower the poor and advantage the state and the rich, given that the police remain armed (and kill thousands each year), and that the rich employ private security guards, who's also retain their right to carry guns.

Mainly the PT and other center-left (and very center-right parties) were in favour of the ban. While the more extreme left and right were against. The argument that won the referendum against the ban seems to have been a rather vague, right-wing "stop taking away our freedoms" and "we need to defend ourselves against criminals" argument rather than "the workers need to arm themselves for the revolution" or "we need to defend ourselves against bad government".