decree., February 13, 1880

decree.

By the fundamental laws of the republic, all its inhabitants enjoy the light to meet in public and petition, but they can neither meet nor petition the authorities with arms in their hands, the right referred to having its source and validity in a peaceable and rational manifestation of opinion. Article 14 of the National Constitution lays down that every inhabitant of the republic enjoys the right of petitioning the authorities and of joining in a meeting for useful purposes. The constitution of the province of Buenos Ayres establishes “the right of the inhabitants to meet in a peaceable way that does not violate public order” (article 12), the constitutions of all the other provinces having each an identical article.

The fundamental laws of both the nation and the provinces thus assign a limit to the right of meeting and petitioning, and that limit is that they be of a peaceful nature. Article 25, chap. 5, of the Law of National Justice, says: “A meeting of citizens, no matter what their number, shall not be considered seditions, if they are unarmed and preserve order.” The constitutions of those nations from which ours is copied lay down that the peaceable exercise of both rights (petition and public meeting) is a “sine qua non” for their enjoyment. The first article of the addenda to the Constitution of the United States says: “Congress can pass no act restricting the right of the people to meet peaceably and demand justice from the government.”

Therefore, no public assemblage of armed men can claim the right of meeting and petition which our laws accord.

The Argentine Constitution has not, in any of its articles, granted the right to bear arms or even keep them in the house, and although the latter is tolerated here as in other free countries, such a right is purely individual in its very nature. To bear arms in public, to drill, organize, and form an army of those so armed is exclusively an attribute of the government in all countries where an organized society exists.

Thus the national constitution only allows one army, the strength of which is annually determined by Congress, and which the President of the republic commands as commander-in-chief, on sea and land, of all the forces of the nation.

Article 108 of the constitution says that the provinces cannot establish customhouses, coin money, arm ships of war, or raise armies; and private individuals might as well be allowed to open custom-houses or coin money as to raise armies.

In only one case does the Argentine Constitution refer to “the armed citizen” and give him the right to bear arms:—“Every citizen is bound to arm for the defense of the country, in conformity with whatever laws Congress may pass and the decrees of the national Executive.”

In order to preserve liberty of suffrage, prevent coercion either by the governments or the political parties, suppress violence and have the election decided solely by reason and the ballot, the last act of the Argentine Congress at the close of the session was to pass the bill which prohibits the meeting of all armed forces, except the national army, until the new President assumes office; this law was promulgated last October. In its first article it prohibits not only the meeting but the calling out of the national guards, even for drill, and this law has been violated by those who meet publicly as armed volunteers, as, being Argentine citizens, they are national guards, and as such prohibited from arming themselves and meeting.

For the foregoing reasons, in fulfillment of the constitution and the laws referred to, to preserve the peace of the country, to prevent coercion and violence at the presidential election, and that this may be decided solely in a peaceable, patriotic, and common sense way—

The president of the republic, in full cabinet council, decrees:

• Art. 1. Throughout the entire extent of the republic, meetings of armed citizens, no matter what name they assume, are hereby prohibited, as laid down in the act of Congress of 13th October, 1879.
• Art. 2. The governors of provinces are hereby charged with the execution of this decree as the natural agents of the national government in enforcing the constitution and the laws of the nation. (Article 110, National Constitution.)
• Art. 3. Let this be published, &c.