Criminal Firearms

But a good deal of the problem of gun-related violence is directly due to the State itself. The National Firearms Forum [NFF] said they have a government report which admits that 200,000 state firearms have gone missing. The NFF said: “We are in possession of another Cabinet document that states that the state itself, through the security forces, are the largest single source of firearms becoming illegal in South Africa.” The NFF said that under 1% of privately licensed firearms are stolen from owners each year and that only one in 200 armed crimes was committed with a licensed firearm.

Defense Minister Mosiuoa Lekota admitted in Parliament that high-powered automatic assault weapons have been stolen from the military. Other stolen weapons include automatic pistols and even a rocket launcher. According to The Star (10.11.99), “Police confirmed that many of these weapons were being used in crimes, including cash-in-transit robberies.”

The Citizen (10.11.99) reported that the new bill “appeared to focus on the legal firearm owner and not on the problem of illegal firearms.” In other words the individual who owns a weapon for self-defense is the target of the law not the criminal. Questions raised in both the South African and British Parliaments revealed that the new legislation was financed by the British government. A private organization, The Institute for Security Studies (ISS), was given R631,000 by the Labour government to help draft the law. But the British government said this was only done “following a request from the government” of South Africa.
-- With Criminal Intent: Big Brother in South Africa, Jim Peron

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