Under the constitution, Colombians can carry guns with a permit. However, researchers estimate that for every two licensed guns in the South American country, there are four illegal ones, making up to five million illegal weapons in circulation.<br /><br />Many are tied to the country's rebel, paramilitary and drug trafficking-groups.<br /><br />Until now, carrying guns in Bogota, Colombia's capital city, has been a way of life - in cinema halls, shopping malls, on buses and in the streets - and perfectly legal too.<br /><br />But a new temporary ban against guns in public places means that Colombians will now have to leave them at home.<br /><br />The mayor of Bogota is experimenting with a measure to try to cut the city's murder rate. For the next three months, Bogota has banned all guns in public places.<br /><br />Colombia has the fifth-highest rate of violent deaths in the world, and if the gun ban does work, it could not only become permanent but also implemented nationwide.<br /><br />Al Jazeera's Jesse Mesner-Hage reports.
