'We trust the drug traffickers more than the police'

So Brazil's having a referendum on whether to ban the sale of guns or not. In what's been perceived as a fairly corrupt, fairly statist nation, people are coming out in droves to support their right to own a gun. In several communities, there is no protection from the police available, and people are protected by drug pushers and gangsters. In a nation where the police are notoriously corrupt, it seems that nobody really thinks that the police can protect them from harm.

The pro-ban lobby has even launched sophisticated publicity stunts meant to secure their former lead. The Viva Rio thinktank orchestrated a demonstration on Rodrigo de Freitas Lake wherein around 36,000 crosses were set afloat on the water-one each for every person that was supposedly killed by a gun (not the guy pulling the trigger) in the past year. Add in celebrities coming out for the ban, and you'd think it would be decided. But no... one single TV appearance by the pro-gun side stating their case honestly, and the situation reversed.

A Washington Post article dated from the 1st said the gun ban would sail through the referendum without a problem. A New York Times article dated from the 20th says that the debate was neck-and-neck. A CNN article dated from today says that 52% oppose the ban while 34% support it. So in the matter of three weeks support for the gun ban went from ecstatic to neutral, and in the past two it's all but dissipated.