2004 Volume 1

Gun Free Follies

It is hard to get anyone from Gun Free South Africa to agree to a public debate. I suppose one cannot really blame them, they don't really have much of an argument.

Every time Gun Free South Africa representatives have gone head to head against a National Firearms Forum or Victims Against Crime representative, their arguments have misfired.

Like the GFSA Judge who gave as his reason why he got involved in the Gun Free movement. He described the gruesome Bains Kloof murder, which he had to deal with. A young couple were kidnapped, suffocated in plastic bags and dumped in a ravine. The Judge then paused and noted that although no firearms were actually used in the Bains Kloof murder, in fact, he added, perhaps it would have been more humane if they had) it entrenched in him the feeling that we need to get rid of all guns!

This was typical GFSA fuzzy thinking. Although firearms had nothing to do with the crime in question, their emotional response was to blame a tool - a cold metal object.

During another debate with GFSA representatives, one, a doctor, related various heart rendering stories of children that he had to treat at the Red Cross Hospital wounded and even crippled by gun fire. Because of these child casualties, he called for “tougher gun laws”.

However, when I asked him how many of these patients were gangsters themselves shot by police or by victims in self-defence or by other gang members, his answer was “almost all of them”!

When asked what the average age of these “children” were, he admitted that most of them would have been 16 years and older.

Upon investigation, I found that only about four patients a month at Red Cross Hospital were gun shot victims, and almost all of those were from illegal guns in the hands of gangsters. Many of the patients were actually gang members themselves.

It does not seem logical to disarm the licensed firearm owners when they are not even the problem.

Further research revealed that the vast majority of casualties admitted to the Red Cross Childrens Hospital were for falls (2 338 cases in the preceding year), motor vehicle accidents (1 030), burns (532), assault with blunt or sharp instruments (208), and poisoning (452 in-patients and 292 out-patients). Even dog bites (91) were more numerous than firearm wounds (50).

Vastly more children die each year in bicycle accidents, car accidents or drownings than from firearms. Children are 1,450% more likely to die from a car accident than from a firearm. Should we outlaw all motor vehicles?

No, the solution to the horrific carnage on the roads is not to ban motor vehicles, but to improve safety features in vehicles, educate drivers, promote the use of seat belts and severely punish drunken or reckless driving. As with motor vehicles, it would not be right to take away everyone's freedom because of the criminal activities or carelessness of some.

With over 9 million illegal firearms in South Africa, it seems unethical to disarm the law-abiding citizens who are potential victims of crime.

Every day countless crimes are prevented, hundreds of victims protected and many tragedies are averted by armed citizens. Armed citizens save lives and parents need to be prepared to protect their children from all threats. It is criminal to interfere with a father's duty to protect his children.

Some people do use firearms for evil purposes, but far more people use firearms for defensive purposes to prevent crimes from being committed.

Peter Hammond is the Director of Christian Action Network, and the author of Security and Servival in Unstable Times.