MSP
‘Carlos’, a victim of crime, got fed up and decided to buy a gun. In 2012, his business establishment was robbed. He was furious so he decided to get a license to carry fire weapons and since that moment, a small-caliber pistol is under the counter of his store.
Just like ‘Carlos’, 157,000 Costa Ricans chose to follow the regulations and carry their own weapons.
In Costa Rica, a country without an army, a great quantity of registered weapons are in people’s hands. 80,000 out of 237,000 guns belong to companies or security companies.
According to William Hidalgo, general director of armament from the Ministry of Public Security (MSP), many citizens acquire a weapon to feel ‘protected’.
I do not think they can protect anyone because the vast majority of these weapons get stolen. People are not able to defend themselves and their guns go from being legally registered to being illegal,
explained Hidalgo.
The government does not dare to estimate how many illegal weapons are there in Costa Rican streets. Presumably there are thousands, taking into account that near 7,000 security companies’ registered guns are missing.
To create more controversy, Walter Espinoza, director of the Organismo de investigación Judicial, thinks that weapons should be only used by the police.