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, […]
BRIEFING 3 of 2021: The illegal firearms trade in South Africa
In May 2021 the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service published a draft Firearms Control Amendment Bill. With almost 100 proposed amendments, a key focus of the Bill is to control legal firearms and ammunition more effectively. This Briefing explores whether that approach will have an impact on the illegal firearms trade in South Africa, and is based on a recently […]
STATEMENT: Welcome Draft Firearms Control Amendment Bill
Gun violence in South Africa has reached epidemic proportions: Nationally, guns have overtaken knives as the weapon most used in murders , while in Gauteng more people are shot and killed than die in traffic accidents. Within this context, we welcome the Draft Firearms Control Amendment Bill, and in partocular support:
- The alignment of the Firearms Control Act with global norms […]
BRIEFING 2 of 2021: SA’s Central Firearms Register – The collapsing cornerstone of gun control
On 14 and 15 May the Portfolio Committee on Police is conducting an oversight visit in Gauteng, where members will visit the Central Firearms Registry (CFR) in Pretoria. Briefing 2 has been developed in preparation for this oversight visit to highlight that problems in the functioning of the CFR identified in 2010 have still not been dealt with eleven years […]
STATEMENT: Protecting the right to peaceful protest and public safety
Gun Free SA welcomes the release by the Minister of Police Bheki Cele of the Panel of Experts Report on Policing and Crowd Management, noting that the release of the Report comes at a time of low public trust in the police, in particular the way in which the police have abused their authority and misused the less-lethal weapons at […]
BRIEFING 1 of 2021: The firearms amnesty has ended, does SAPS know where the guns are?
Three days before the 2020-21 national firearms amnesty ended, the SAPS reported that just 40,729 firearms had been handed in, either for destruction or by gun owners with expired licences applying for new licences. Assuming that all the firearms handed in had expired licences, this is only 9% of the 450,000+ firearms which the Supreme Court of Appeal estimated were […]
STATEMENT: National Firearms Amnesty ends 31 January – Police and gun owners failure to act risks safety of SA
The safety of all who live in South Africa will continue to be at risk of gun violence because neither the police nor gun owners have acted expediently on the national firearms amnesty, which ends on 31 January. The police have done very little to publicise and encourage the public to take advantage of the 6-month amnesty, which started on […]
