Brazilians rejected a proposal to ban gun sales in a national referendum that stirred a fierce debate in a country with one of the world's highest gun death rates.

With more than 95 per cent of the votes counted on Sunday, 64 per cent of Brazilians were opposed to the ban, while 36 per cent backed it, said officials at the Supreme Electoral Court, giving the 'no' position an insurmountable lead.

"They didn't vote in favour of guns, they voted to protest the government and the lack of a national security policy," said Antonio Rangel, co-ordinator of the gun control campaign at the Viva Rio think tank. "Two months ago we had 81 per cent support for the ban, this shows that less than 20 per cent of the population really believe in guns. The rest was protest."

But those who opposed the ban said it was more than that.

"The 'no' aside from being a protest is a reaction to the attempt to take a right away from the citizen," said Representative Alberto Fraga, who led the congressional lobby against the ban. "If the ban was approved the bandits would have been overjoyed with incompetence of the state."

Brazil has 100 million fewer citizens than the United States, but a staggering 25 per cent more gun deaths at nearly 40,000 a year. While supporters argued that gun control was the best way to staunch the violence, opponents played on Brazilians' fears that the police cannot protect them.

"I don't like people walking around armed on the street. But since all the bandits have guns, you need to have a gun at home," said taxi driver Mohammed Osei, who voted against the ban.

The proposal would have prohibited the sale of firearms and ammunition except for police, the military, some security guards, gun collectors and sports shooters. It would complement a 2003 disarmament law that sharply restricts who can legally purchase firearms and carry guns on the street.

That law, coupled with a government-sponsored gun buy back programme, has reduced deaths from firearms by about 8 per cent this year, the Health Ministry said.

But the referendum backfired for proponents. Earlier this year, support for the ban was running as high as 80 per cent. But in the weeks before the referendum, both sides were granted free time to present their cases on prime-time TV, and the pro-gun lobby began to grow.

Analysts said the pro-gun advocates benefited from equal time on television in the final weeks of the campaign and that they cannily cashed in on Brazilian scepticism of the police.

"They ask the question: 'Do you feel protected and do you think the government is protecting you?' and the answer is a violent no," said political scientist David Fleischer of the University of Brasilia.

Referendum: Only way to keep safe?

Campaigning had been intense. Groups favouring the ban accused gun makers of funding a big gun rights campaign and manipulating people's fears.

The combination of Brazil's high gun-death rate and the nature of the debate over the right to gun ownership has drawn parallels to the gun debate in the United States, where the influential National Rifle Association, or NRA, a gun owners' lobbying group, has sfought off gun control legislation, citing provisions in the US Constitution guaranteeing the right to bear arms.

"The whole campaign (against the ban) was imported from the United States. They just translated a lot of material from the NRA," said Jessica Galeria, a Californian who researches gun violence with the Viva Rio think tank. "Now, a lot of Brazilians are insisting on their right to bear arms, they don't even have a pseudo right to bear arms. It's not in their Constitution."

Some Brazilians said they resented the referendum because they feel the government is ducking its responsibility to keep the peace.

"It's immoral for the government to have this vote," said Pedro Ricardo, an army officer in Sao Paulo. "They are putting the responsibility on us, but ... the way to cut down on violence is to combat the drug trade and patrol our borders."

Supporters maintain the referendum is the only way to make Brazil safer.

"We have to do something about the violence in this country," said Paulo Leite, an engineer from the upscale Ipanema beach district.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his wife Marisa Leticia both voted for the ban. "I think that for an ordinary person to have firearms is not going to give security, so I voted 'Yes,'" Lula said.

According to United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, Brazil ranks second worldwide in deaths by guns, with 21.72 per 100,000 people a year.

Source: China Daily