Brazil to swap guns for 2014 World Cup tickets

PanARMENIAN.Net - Brazil is planning to give out free World Cup tickets in exchange for illegal guns.

The government is trying desperately to cut the number of guns in circulation, and with that in mind the justice ministry has drawn up the plans for a firearms amnesty to run in conjunction with the 2014 tournament.

Other proposals set to be debated by the country's lawmakers include giving signed shirts and other memorabilia to those who turn in their weapons - and there is even a suggestion that the recovered guns could be turned into the goalposts used during World Cup matches.

"We must consider the social legacy in defense of peace," said Brazilian MP Renan Filho.

"In Africa the theme was the fight against Aids. Here we must spread the culture of peace and disarmament. We are still the country that kills most with firearms."

FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke poured scorn on the idea during a recent visit to the country, however, saying, "There are so many guns in Brazil that we wouldn't have a sufficient number of tickets."

Brazil's murder rate has risen 124 per cent over the past three decades, and recent atrocities - including a mass shooting at a primary school that left 12 dead - has led to a growing disarmament movement and an amnesty that was recently put in place.

But campaigners believe that the current amnesty would be boosted massively by a tie-in with the World Cup, Eurosport reported.