Bolsonaro's gun laws arm Brazil's brazen bank thieves

FILE PHOTO: A banner with a photo of Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro is seen at the Tatico Brasil Security training center, which provides training for private security guards, some of whom will serve in banks, in the Uberaba city in Minas Gerais state, Brazil August 4, 2022. REUTERS/Leonardo Benassato

UBERABA, Brazil (Reuters) - In August last year, Brazilian farmer Reinaldo Huijsmans reported a break-in at his house in the town of Maracaju, where thieves stole six legally registered weapons, including a T4 Taurus assault rifle.

Huijsmans, 39, is one of hundreds of thousands of Brazilians now registered to own guns, a group whose ranks have surged six-fold since far-right President Jair Bolsonaro was elected in 2018 and began loosening gun laws.