As mayor of Bogota, Gustavo Petro has put forth a ban on carrying guns in public even with a legal permit.

Skeptics have countered that criminals will not follow the ban, and the result will only disarm citizens legally carry guns for security reasons.

In 2002 Brazil implemented restrictions which made it virtually impossible for citizens to obtain a permit. According to Brazil’s National Confederation of Municipalities as recently as 2008, more than half of the homocides in Brazil were perpetrated with a firearm, despite restrictions on legal ownership of firearms. The nation suffers at three times the global average in terms of homicide.

As a senator, Petro was antagonistic to the Presidency of Álvaro Uribe despite Uribe’s 70% popularity rating when leaving office.

Ironically, while he is currently advocating restrictions on citizen’s owning firearms for protection, Gustavo was a member of militant organizations during his youth, and was involved with a militant group known as M-19 which was responsible for the kidnapping of the leader of the conservative party in Colombia in 1988, and the death of Nicolás Escobar Soto who wasthe CEO of Texas Petroleum in Colombia. Gustavo Petro has also made accusations that the guerrilla group FARC is a group of "right-wing criminals."