Cape Town – Gun owners SA has weighed in on the current firearm debate emphasising that private gun owners cannot be blamed for crimes committed with firearms.
Previously, Gun Free SA’s Jeremy Vearey said the requirement for gun licences should be reviewed.
“Many of the gun owners get a licence on the merits of self-defence. It is also important to take into perspective the area in which the licence holder resides.
“Is self-defence a good enough reason in an area with low crime? This increases the pool of firearms that could in the long run be misplaced or stolen, increasing the potential of illicit guns. Many of these gun owners have never even been to a shooting range,” he said.
Paul Oxley, the national chairman of Gun owners SA, vehemently disagreed with Vearey’s stance and said private gun owners have a right to safety and self defence, taking this right away is a violation of their right.
“Section 120 of the firearms control amendment bill terms civilians as metro police, private security and state owned security. Using the word civilian for private gun owners is not fair.
“It is also important to state that private gun owners would be cautious with their firearms, because they own the firearm. Metro police and private security do not, and it is safe to say they’re likely to lose/be careless with their firearms,” he said.
Oxley said private gun owners bear the brunt of being labelled as negligent gun owners who contribute to “lost guns”, but Oxley said that there was a difference between a misplaced gun and a gun that was stolen unlawfully.
“If someone enters my house and opens my safe, takes my gun and uses it for crime, I cannot be the one labelled negligent. The gun was in my safety but someone forcefully entered my home and stole what was mine,” he said.
Oxley said he had never seen a government official disciplined for misplacing a firearm, yet private gun owners are always pinned with crimes they did not commit.
Jenni Irish-Qhobosheane, a senior analyst at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Crime, said that illicit firearms were still available and thriving because of gangs and taxi associations. She said that state-owned entities contributed to a large bulk of “stolen” guns that trickle through the market.
“The SANDF has a high number of firearms that ‘go missing’ with no proper numbers given. Another state institution that has guns that go ‘missing’ is state security and metro police.The poor reporting of numbers of guns going missing in these departments is a cause of high concern,” she said.