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Brazilian Senate calls for vote on gun sales

12 April 2011 22:42 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA.The Brazilian people may soon have a chance to decide whether to forbid gun sales in the country following a school shooting that killed 12 students, APA reports quoting news.yahoo.com website.

Senate leaders decided Tuesday to propose a bill that would ask voters to decide the issue. The bill must be approved by the House and Senate.

Senate president Jose Sarney told a news conference that legislators would rush the bill so the issue would be ready for a vote by Brazilian citizens this fall.

A similar proposition was put to a direct vote in 2005 but was easily defeated.

On Thursday, a man walked into a Rio de Janeiro state public school and shot 12 children to death, then killed himself. Police are investigating the motive.