STATEMENT: Government must act decisively to prevent gun massacres
3 February 2023: The latest gun massacres in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal will not be the last if government again makes empty promises of action.
These same promises were made in July last year when 21 people were shot and killed and 20 injured in 3 separate shootings at taverns in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. Government responded by deploying Crime Intelligence, […]
Guns are out of hand
Gun violence comes from many sides: murder, mischance, mistakes… but every shooting is avoidable – if there was no gun at all. With support from the Commonwealth Foundation, GFSA launched the #GunsoutofHand campaign during Global Disarmament Week 2022 (24-30 October), to tell the stories of ordinary South Africans whose lives have been instantly shattered by a gun.
“By showing […]
BRIEFING 3 of 2022: Using the principle of limits to stop SA’s gun violence epidemic
The latest quarterly crime statistics confirm the gun violence epidemic in South Africa: 30 people were murdered with a gun every day between 1 April and 30 June 2022, up from 23 a day in 2019/20. Briefing 3 summarises the latest statistics on gun violence in South Africa, as well as studies that offer solutions to our gun violence epidemic.
GFSA’s 2020-21 Annual Report
GFSA’s latest annual report, reflecting on the years 2020 and 2021, is available.
Click here to download
RESPONSE: Tavern mass shootings
GFSA’s Director Adele Kirsten responds to the tavern shootings of 9 July:
NEWSLETTER: June 2022 – Human rights, self-defence and public safety
Welcome to GFSA’s June 2022 newsletter, contents include:
- Guns and human rights: in conversation with Jeremy Vearey
- Changing pattern of gun violence: more multiple shootings, more multiple shots, more women killed in public spaces
- The burden of gun violence on SA’s health system
- Protecting our youth
- New SA research highlights risk of guns for self-defence
- Gun violence is preventable
BRIEFING 2 of 2022: Gun control, self-defence and public safety
Crime statistics for January to March 2022 confirm that violent crime in South Africa continues to rise.
In this context of high levels of crime, a weak criminal justice system, proposed amendments to tighten gun controls (including banning guns for self-defence), as well as forceful marketing by the firearms industry that guns are effective for self-defence, we can expect gun sales […]
BRIEFING 1 of 2022: Femicide in South Africa over 18 years
Femicide – the murder of women and girls – is the most extreme form of violence, and shows a country’s magnitude of violence against women.
South Africa’s third national femicide study looks at how femicide has changed over an 18 year period, comparing data from 1999, 2009 and 2017.
The findings of the Medical Research Council’s 2017 femicide study include that:
- While SA’s […]
STATEMENT: Latest SA femicide study highlights gun control integral to saving women’s lives
8 March 2022: The third national femicide study released by the SA Medical Research Council (MRC) to mark International Women’s Day shows the importance of gun control in protecting women and girls aged 14+.
Says Adèle Kirsten, Director of GFSA, “The latest MRC study is good news. It shows we have halved femicide in South Africa over the past 18 years. […]
STATEMENT: RIP Gun Free SA Patron Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu
“Real peace never comes from the barrel of a gun”
Gun Free SA Patron Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu
7 October 1931 – 26 December 2021
26 December 2021: It is with great regard and sadness that Gun Free South Africa marks the passing of our beloved patron, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.
The Arch, who himself admitted that he couldn’t, and wouldn’t shut up in […]
