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 […]
BRIEFING 4 of 2021: A snapshot of injury-related death in SA in 2017
Briefing 4 summarises South Africa’s 2nd injury mortality survey which analyses 2017 mortuary data. The survey gives a snapshot of who, how, where and when people died including detailed information on the weapon used in murder or suicide.
The main findings of the 2017 injury mortality survey include that:
‒ More people were murdered than died […]
16 Days of Activism: Disarm gender-based violence
2021 marks the 30th anniversary of the Global 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, which runs from 25 November (International Day Against Violence Against Women) to 10 December (International Human Rights Day).
Despite three decades of ardent campaigns to end gender-based violence (GBV), hundreds of millions of women and girls continue to be abused, deprived of their human rights and […]
STATEMENT: Delaying Firearms Control Amendment Bill is right thing to do
GFSA welcomes yesterday’s decision by the parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Police to delay tabling amendments to the Firearms Control Act.
Says Adèle Kirsten, GFSA’s Director, “Yesterday’s decision is not a sign that parliament is opposed to strengthening the Firearms Control Act. Instead it ensures that the best possible version of the Bill comes to parliament, and was the right thing to […]
STATEMENT: Response to video of armed man shot in head by cop at hotel
During the recent public debate on proposed amendments to the Firearms Control Act, a
common theme was how effective guns are for self-defence. Despite the evidence that guns are not the
solution, and rather pose a risk for injury and death, the myth persisted through anecdotal evidence. This
terrible incident, leaving all the people involved traumatised, and one man fighting for his life, […]
