More than 9 000 guns are reported stolen or missing every year. (Photo by Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
More than 9 000 guns are reported stolen or missing every year, while 30 people are murdered with guns daily and 24 guns enter the illegal market every day in South Africa.
This is according to Gun Free SA, which has launched the #GunsoutofHand campaign, arguing that guns do not build safer communities.
The NGO says its campaign involves sharing true stories of the split seconds that have changed a life forever, such as that of a security officer who was shot and killed and his body dumped inside a manhole in Kwazulu-Natal last week Friday.
There are more than four million licensed guns in the country, according to Gun Free SA.
The Democratic Alliance says nearly 30% of stolen firearms from the South African Police Service (SAPS) over the past 10 financial years have not been recovered.
One of the biggest problems is illegal firearms and not law-abiding citizens who own guns for self-defence purposes, the chairperson of the South African Gun Owners Association, Damian Enslin told the Mail & Guardian.
“What we have been calling on for many years is a special task force unit that can track down these illegal firearms, and the amount of corruption from the police and crime intelligence needs to be fixed again and get hold of organised crime, which is where all these guns are going to,” Enslin says.
Adèle Kirsten, the director of Gun Free SA, believes that by showing the irreparable and irreversible harm guns have on the lives of people, they are challenging the myths about gun ownership and this will inspire action to stop gun violence.
Kirsten says one of the myths is that people who have guns at home are protected from intruders, but that very same gun can be used against a woman in the home, by a suicidal teenager and a child can shoot another child, as happened last year.
Sixteen-year-old Joshua Edwards was killed while visiting a friend from school. The teenager was shot with a gun owned by the boy’s father on a plot in Blue Hills, Midrand. The 18-year-old who shot Joshua was recently found guilty of culpable homicide.
“A legal gun, owned by a responsible gun owner in the home puts everyone at risk,” argues Kirsten.
But Enslin argues that “a gun-free society would never happen because criminals use the guns for their trades; they use them as tools and would never hand in their firearms”.
Reasons for getting a gun
According to Gunlicence.co.za, a gun shop that also trains people to use weapons, the top reason people own guns in South Africa is self-defence. It believes that owning a gun for self-defence gives control, meaning that one’s life and limb are not at the mercy of a violent criminal.
Bianca Bell, the owner of Kalahari Arms, a firearm dealer, told the M&G that there has been an increase from 40% to 60% in women getting firearms, not necessarily because of the growing number of gender-based violence incidents, but because many of them are the sole “security force” in their homes.
A researcher from Gun Free SA says that the most obvious way to stop guns from getting out of control is to not buy a firearm at all. Gun ownership worsens the very problem that people buying guns for self-defence are trying to solve.
“In order to own a gun you will need to do your proficiency training in order to apply for your competency certificate at SAPS. As soon as you have received your competency certificate you may apply for your firearm licence,” said Bell.
Getting rid of unwanted guns
Gun owners who want to get rid of their guns can hand them over to the police to have them destroyed, or they can sell the weapons.
When a person hands in a gun to the police, they need to fill out forms provided at the station and also have their licences with them.
One can also legally sell a gun to the dealer or privately, but the new owner must have a licence before transfer of ownership can be done.
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