South Africa: "Give up your gun, say cops"

[cuchulainn]

from the Cape Argus

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=13&art_id=vn20030602102217432C844578&set_id=1

Give up your gun, say cops

June 02 2003 at 10:22AM

By Johan Schronen

With guns still the weapon of choice for the soaring murder rate in the Western Cape, police have announced a month-long amnesty for people to hand in illegal guns.

This follows a Medical Research Council survey which highlighted a direct link between the rising murder rate and guns as the main cause of unnatural deaths.

The MRC found 56 percent of fatal shootings in the Peninsula were in Tygerberg and six Cape Flats areas: Khayelitsha, Philippi, Nyanga, Mitchell's Plain, Gugulethu and Manenberg.

Under Operation Sethunya - the campaign to rid communities of firearms - police have announced the amnesty to start on July 1.

'We're taking those guns out of circulation'
An extensive audit of state-owned weapons was expected to be launched in the Western Cape this week as part of the operation.

Police are already confiscating up to 200 firearms a month.

Provincial firearm control head Jacques van Lill said a clampdown on guns was also focusing on those legally owned by people who were unfit to possess firearms.

"As we've promised, we're taking those guns out of circulation as fast as we can and the community will soon see the fruits of our actions," said Van Lill.

The probe by the MRC was based on the National Injury Mortality Surveillance System (NIMSS).

The report said suburbs where firearm killings were prevalent were also low income, and notorious for crime and gangsterism.

Altogether 42 percent of gun-related killings occurred in homes or residential complexes, in the street, in informal settlements, in shops and on open land and beaches.

The MRC study found the murder rate in Cape Town had increased by 15 percent between 1994 and 2001.

In 1994 there were 462 fatal shootings, making up 26 percent of all killings, but in 2001 such killings accounted for 46 percent of 2 436 murders reported in Cape Town.

The numbers of killings which did not involve guns remained stable, with 1 327 cases in 1994 and 1 314 in 2001.

Cape Town's latest recorded murder rate, at 88 per 100 000, is the highest in the country.

The survey assessed and collected data from 32 state mortuaries in maily urban centres around the country.

The MRC study found that about 90 percent of fatal shooting victims were male - and about 55 percent were Africans and 42 percent coloured.

And 91 percent of gun killings were of people in the "economically active" age group from 15 to 44.

Liquor was involved in 42 percent of killings involving perpetrators whose alcohol blood count was known.

A large percentage of fatal shootings (43,7 percent) occurred on Saturdays and Sundays.
Gun-related killings peaked during June and December, in the holiday seasons.

Comparing the murder rates of five South African cities, including Cape Town, in 2001, East London had the highest but its rate of firearm killings (29 per 100 000 population), was much lower than Durban's (48 per 100 000 population) and Cape Town's (40 per 100 000 population).

 

[CZ-75]

Tires and gasoline can't be far behind.

 

[vmi93]

I'm glad to see that this developing nation is well on its way to the same post-colonial civilization and prosperity as the rest of sub-Saharan Africa.

Maybe the ancient and revered African customs of cannibalism and genocide will be returning soon.

 

[HankB]

I wonder where these numbers are coming from - last I heard, the Majority Rule (ANC) government had declared crime statistics a national secret in order to avoid scaring away foreign investment.

RSA is going in the same direction as Rhodesia (aka Zimbabwe) . . . but since there was more infrastructure - which takes time to break down - it's lagging by about 10-15 years.

 

[AJ Dual]

Hmmm.

I'm half-convinced that South African Brewries PLC bought Miller Brewing Co. here in Milwaukee just so some of the top brass could have an excuse to move to a safer country...

 

[Solinvictus70]

The country is headed the way of other dictatorial hell-holes in the region. The ANC are communists, pure and simple, and they were given power by the decades of sanctions imposed by the world. The police in South Africa are largely ANC appointees and have been noted for their corruption and participation in violent crime. The ANC has a reputation for ignoring crime and refusing to punish criminals. Remember, this is the same regime that publically stated that condoms were a conspiracy to spread AIDS.

 

[Jaco]

Yes, South Africa is probably going the same way as Africa, and the disarming of the civilians is the first step, as in Zimbabwe. And when that is a reality, then this man is leaving the country.

Let all of this be a lesson to the pro-gunners in the US to fight harder, and keep your president out of this country - there are countries that will actually appreciate him and your country, certainly not our communist and corrupt government. Or best still, why couldnt Bush come here with a few planes, and take some Afrikaners back that is willing to give everything for a country that can give them rights?

 

[Standing Wolf]

This follows a Medical Research Council survey which highlighted a direct link between the rising murder rate and guns as the main cause of unnatural deaths.

I wish those gosh-darned guns would stop causing unnatural deaths! How very intemperate of them!

 

[spartacus2002]

Guns don't kill people. Bullets do