RIO DE JANEIRO, June 27 (UPI) -- Half a million people were killed in Brazil in gun-related deaths from 1979-2003, the United Nations reported Monday.
The statistics show that four times as many people were killed by guns in Brazil during the 24-year period than those in the Arab-Israeli conflict, Agencia Estado news agency reported.
Last month, the United Nations released a report saying Brazil ranked second in the world for deaths by firearms.
Brazil averages 21.72 gun-related deaths per 100,000 residents.
In comparison, the United States averages 10.27 gun deaths per 100,000 while Israel averages 2.70 gun fatalities per 100,000, despite the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
Only neighboring Venezuela has more gun deaths at 34.30 mortalities per 100,000.
"It is deplorable this is happening," Brazil's president of the lower house of Congress, Severino Cavalcanti, said in May. "We need to do everything we can to safeguard our society."
Brazilian lawmakers are working on the wording of a national firearms ban referendum scheduled to be voted on in October.
