Across Brazil, politicians like Mr. Telhada, with backgrounds in law enforcement or the armed forces, have been winning elections. In Congress, about 21 legislators now form what is called the bancada da bala, a “bullet caucus” seeking to bolster gun ownership and repeal laws keeping teenagers from being tried and sentenced as adults, among other conservative measures.

Their rising influence points to a major shift in Latin America’s largest democracy. While Brazil is governed by President Dilma Rousseff — a former leftist guerrilla who promotes the sway of state-owned companies, affirmative action and social welfare projects to reduce inequality — the insurgents of Brazilian politics now largely come from the right.

The movement is national in scope, with figures like Moroni Torgan, a high-ranking leader of the Mormon Church in Brazil and a former police investigator. He received more votes in October’s elections than any of the other candidates who won seats in the lower house of Congress for the northeast state of Ceará, campaigning on a platform of cracking down on drug trafficking.

Others in the congressional bullet caucus, like Waldir Soares, a police investigator in the central state of Goiás, are vowing to overhaul laws allowing criminals to avoid long prison sentences. Some are also fighting their own legal battles, including Éder Mauro, a police official under investigation for torture in Pará, the vast state in Brazil’s Amazon.

Political analysts attribute the rise of these conservative figures to a society fed up with violent crime. Drug gangs have expanded their reach across the country, and Brazil now ranks as the world’s second-largest cocaine-consuming country after the United States. According to the United Nations, Brazil has more homicides than any other country, with 50,108 in 2012, though the per capita homicide rate remains below those in countries like Honduras and Venezuela.