INLSA
070911: KwaZulu Natal Comissioner Mamunye Ngobeni at Prospecton where illegal firearms were destroyed by police.PICTURE PATRICK MTOLO
With streamlined firearm legislation making deadly weapons
more accessible to the public, thousands of illegal weapons still unaccounted
for in South Africa, violence monitors and anti-gun lobbyists warn that mass
killings like those at Sandy Hook and Columbine are a real threat. A string of
mass shootings across the globe has pushed the debate on gun control into high
gear, an issue made more topical in the South African context because of the
country’s violent past.
In the 2011 to 2012 year, the police received a total of
125 388 new firearm applications, but with an existing float of illegal guns in
the country, it is impossible to pinpoint how many firearms are in the hands of
South Africans. KwaZulu-Natal violence monitor Mary de Haas said illegal
weapons, including those stolen from the police and from the army, effectively
nullified the tightening of gun control legislation. “The figure for guns
stolen from the police is scary. A few years ago, 43 guns were stolen from the
Maphumulo police station in what was clearly an inside job, because they were
selected from those in the store room and were linked to taxi violence cases;
when I last heard from the police about them none had been recovered,” she
said.
“To make matters worse, there are still about 64 tons of
the Vlakplaas weapons delivered to the province in early 1994 which are
unaccounted for. The equivalent of about two truckloads was found and destroyed
10 years ago, but goodness knows where the other four truckloads are. “These
weapons include rocket launchers, anti-tank mines and grenades, more than
enough to start a civil war,” De Haas said. She said that fly-by-night security
companies that acquired weapons and then went out of business also contributed
to the mounting quandary of illegal and untraceable guns. “Generally, the
violence here takes a different form from that of Sandy Hook or Columbine, but,
having said that, in any country there is a risk that some crank with access to
guns can go on a similar shooting spree,” she warned.
Competency
Amid speculation from some gun licence holders that
licences became available within 18 days of their applications being submitted,
police have said that they aim to process all licence applications within 90
days. “All applications are considered on merit and a detailed motivation
document must be provided. “In the case of an application being finalised in
under three weeks, it simply means that the applicant had already obtained a
competency certificate and that all forms were completed fully and correctly,”
police spokesman Brigadier Lidela Mashigo said. “The fact is that the Firearms
Act promotes responsible firearm ownership and as such, all members of society
are entitled to apply to possess one should they see fit,” he added.
Wouter de Waal of Gun Owners South Africa said there were
no dangers in an armed society. “History shows that armed societies are far
safer. “Disarmament in countries like the UK has not made it safer at all. “If
you look at similar countries, you will find that the firearm ownership rate
and the murder rate are inversely proportional,” he said. “The fact is that no
gun law has ever reduced crime or the supply of weapons to criminals. It is
impossible to legislate guns out of the hands of criminals. “Consequently, the
claim that gun laws are aimed at crime control is false. Gun control has a
negative effect on public safety, in South Africa and everywhere else,” De Waal
added.
Claire Taylor, spokeswoman for Gun Free South Africa,
countered this, saying that gun control legislation had saved thousands of
lives. “Twenty-nine percent of non-natural deaths were due to firearms in 2002,
and this had dropped to 10.8 percent by 2008, while deaths from stabbings and
transport accidents remained stable. Reducing access to guns is one of the few
interventions shown to be effective in immediately reducing violence, while
other interventions take much longer to have an impact,” she said.
“If you look at what happened at Sandy Hook, one person
killed so many in under 20 minutes. “If there are guns in society there is
always the risk of that happening. “If you contrast the shooting at Sandy Hook
against the school knife attack in China, in the latter no one was killed. “Guns
are designed to take life,” she added.
In the latest massacre, 28 people were killed, including
22 children, when Adam Lanza, 20, went on a shooting rampage with a hunting
rifle and two handguns at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. This
incident came a year after the killing of 69 people on the Swedish resort
island of Utoya, with extremist Anders Breivik wielding a number of weapons on
his infamous killing mission.
Source: iol News SA
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