Guest: Adele Kirsten, Gun Free SA Director
Gun Free South Africa says murders caused by shooting have been increasing for the past ten years. It's expressed concern about firearm-related violence after the release of the latest crime statistics. The organisation is calling on government to use its crime data to save lives.
Themes
- Licensed versus illegal guns
- Illegal guns have been predominantly used in firearm murders and other types of violent crimes in South Africa.
- Beyond controlling guns
-The Firearms Control Act has been one of many firearm violence reduction measures in South Africa.
- The police have reported that they destroyed 1,189,884 firearms between and 2018/20
- Firearm violence remains a problem
-Statistics produced by the police and mortuary surveillance systems in South Africa have consistently shown that firearms are the most commonly used weapons to commit murder and other violent crimes, such as carjacking and house robberies.
-With this in mind, the Civilian Secretariat for Police Services which serves as the technical advisory agency to the Minister of Police, wants to have the Firearms Control Act amended to introduce more stringent firearm licensing measures.