This is something that has been on my mind alot. Driving to work today a Golf GTI kept harrassing the road, not me, everyone. She was driving fast because she had a fast car. She ended up nowhere with a beat-up-skedonk driving past her slowly.
Now this brings me to my point. The only reason she was driving that fast was because she was in a GTI. If she didn’t have the GTI she probably wouldn’t want to drive that fast. In the same breath I firmly believe in a gun-free world/South Africa.
Yes people kill people, but damn guns help hey!
Does having a million Rand mean that one should be using it, spending it, driving a fast car? I don’t know. But I think that extravagance is fast becoming a way of life in SA and I am not so sure I like it.
I am all for having money, spending money and using money. But extravagance that is blatant and “showy” really grates me. Arrogance is something that I struggle to deal with, like the woman in the GTI this morning. She strikes me as the type who if she had a gun she’d use it because she had it. And that worries me.
I have often pulled out of debate, discussion, fighting, arguing or swearing at motorists because it’s never just a simple throwing of words or gestures. There is always that possibility of more.
Is a gun-free SA possible? Is it necessary? Should we be taking a harder line on this topic? I think we should. How can you hijack someone without a gun? It’s possible, I’m sure, but much more difficult.
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January 29th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Ya, but if you take away firearms from law abiding, tax paying South African citizens, only the crims will have them. It’s an unfortunate reality.
January 29th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
mambo,that is the myth that pro- gun people use to scare people into agreeing with them.the fact is that in places where guns are legal like America and SA,they have the most gun crime,versus places like the UK where there are much tighter controls on who can buy guns.As long as guns are available, any idiot can go out and buy/steal one and kill.The arguement that guns will keep ‘good south africans’ safe,is blatently not true,as south africa has a huge amount of gun-related murders.
Make SA a gun-fee society,and the rate of gun related murders would go down.
Yes the majority of gun-related murders in SA are carried out with illegal guns,but if there wasnt a gun culture in SA and there were stricter gun controls,guns would be much less likely to fall into illegal hands.In SA disarmament would be a very long process that would take years and have to include lots of gun amnestys and police seriously working to find those supplying illegal guns and prosecuting them,but in the long run it would make for a safer SA.
A society where guns are illegal for the vast majority of people is a safer society.I fail to see how anyone can argue with this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_South_Africa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_the_United_Kingdom
January 30th, 2008 at 6:46 am
Agree with you 100% on getting rid of guns. I’ve always belived that getting rid of guns would reduce the murder rate. However I do recall seing one of Michael Moore’s movies (Columbine?) where he did a comparison of US vs Canadian gun ownership and murders which came up with surprising results. As I recall his conclusion was that it was the amount of violence on American TV that had a huge impact on the US murder rate.
May 19th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
No, Stan, not true. Look up what John Lott found in his book “More guns, less crime,” and also find out what his presuppositions were. Removing guns from society AND imposing hefty penalties for gun-related crime may reduce gun-related crime, but it will not have an effect on overall levels of crime. England has a huge crime problem, with perpetrators of violent attacks getting younger and younger. They attack people with impunity because a lone person will not have a weapon that can equalize matters.
It’s like banning Toyota Corrolas because they are found to be involved in accidents the most. What will you ban next, then? The answer is proper law enforcement, police that apply and enforce the already draconian laws. It’s already illegal to kill people – why do you want to make it more illegal? Question: how many firearms that are being used in the current situation regarding foreigners in the townships are legal? How many may have been stolen from the police? Take firearms away from ordinary citizens and criminals will simply buy/steal them from security companies, police and the army.
A well-armed, disciplined populace (such as the swiss) makes for a strong democracy. Gun control is for Hitler, Hussain, Stalin and Pol pot.
September 25th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
I have leaved in SA most my life and I’ts absurd what gun availability has done to human life. and as long as there are guns the present gun deaths and gun violence will never end. South Africa deserves more that what we experiencing at the moment. We really do not need guns in this country and we possibly need to look at asking the government to ban guns… even the production of replica and toy guns.
I’m a survivor of gun violence (10 Dec. 2003) which was an attempt car hijacking incident. Thank God I’ alive.
South Africans and government needs to stand together on this, should be only Gun Free South Africa’s campaign but the SA citizen’s.
We have seen and heard enough. Some may claim to be law abiding gun owners, but what happens to you gun when you loose it?
I believe – every so called “illegal” gun has it’s origins and it was legal before.
In starts MRC(2005)it was found that: In SA about 66 guns in SA, are reported lost of stolen, more people die of gun shot than in motor car accident or any other form of unnatural deaths.
No doubts, guns presently are the world “mass destruction weapons”
If so many gun are lost or stolen, where did they end up?? Why so many gun deaths? if it really safer to have a gun?? I don’t think and don’t belive in guns… those who still do, I hope you will learn what your impact is doing to this country… I love South Africa and people living in it… but some of those are taking our county down, slowly but surely. People need to wake up and see….
October 28th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
When the doctor looked me in the eye and said: “we have found cancer cells in your body”, I asked: “What can be done?” Then became a journey that was very frightening for me. BUT, I soon realised that if that had been a bullet that entered my body, I would not have been able to ask that that question. I would probably not even have been able to be assisted by a doctor. There could have been no second chance for me. That is why I want to say: rid our society of guns, legal or illegal, in order for others to live, like i have.
October 28th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
I think the argument about “only criminals will have guns” is a bit of a red herring. I am trained to use firearms. Nothing sinister in that – most white males of my age in SA were trained to use firearms whilst in the SADF. But I can’t imagine many circumstances where a gun would be of much use to me. They’d be great if you KNEW that trouble was coming your way, but most of us don’t see trouble coming. Of course you COULD carry one around with a round in the chamber, and positioned so that you could get at it real quick and start blasting away. But THEN you’d have to be constantly scanning for danger. This was feasible in the bush when on patrol in countries you shouldn’t have been in, but in day-to-day life in Jo’burg…. no way. They’re not much use really.
April 5th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Sure let’s get rid of all guns – nice Utopian idea.
But then let’s start with the guns in CRIMINAL hands – once those are gone then maybe the law-abiding with guns would not be so reluctant!
May 3rd, 2009 at 10:05 pm
I’m sure all the “gun free freaks” live in Lala land, because it’s certainly not on planet Earth.
“In addition, the South African Police Service lost 2 507 weapons in 2008, which constitutes a year-on-year increase of over 30 % in missing or stolen weapons. Combined, this means that 3 767 weapons previously owned by various state agencies have been lost in the space of a year”
You going to remove all the weapons form state agency’s?
Read the Link if you want http://www.da.org.za/newsroom.htm?action=view-news-item&id=6517
May 4th, 2009 at 12:39 am
It is amazing what some will believe even when the proof of the falsity of their claims stares them in the face.
Where has any ban ever worked? Drugs? Alcohol?, guns? …
Where has a ban produced any difficulty that the criminal market could not fill the demand?
How will the gun banners remove guns to obtain a gun free society? Wave a magic wand because that is the only way it MAY work. Any of you guys have a magic wand?
Then of course it assumes that ALL criminals will somehow be rehabilitated. Good grief what do these people smoke? Ah! the magic wand again. Prove that guns cause crime and you will have achieved a world first.
They also avoid all accepted research. The American Academy of Sciences, the CDC review committee, the Carter administration research of Wright, Rossi and Daley. All every one found not one more strict gun control law or intervention which has reduced crime of the supply of guns to criminals.
So when anyone says remove guns and crime or criminal guns will be reduced it is a LIE and nobody has yet shown any proof that it will work.
But LIES and gun control sound so much better than the hard work of investigating crime and punishing criminals.
May 4th, 2009 at 10:10 am
Amazing… you’ve managed to transfer a behaviour to an object. Just having a fast car doesn’t mean having to drive fast – it’s the person who determines how the vehicle will be driven, not otherwise.
We all went through student days, with buddies who had their first cars – generally not great, often beaten up skedonks – which were driven in a hair-raising manner. There are people out there who will push anything, from a ferrari to a 1981 datsun.
Lastly, if you can show me a truly gun-free country… well, you’re living on a different world. Criminals always get weapons, without exception, even in the UK and Japan where restrictions are tightest.
We need to deal with the behaviour, not try and ban objects and pray the world notices by that token that we don’t want to be hurt.
May 4th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
While you want to rip guns from everyone’s hands mothers must protect their children from paedophiles and rapists with screams for help or phoning the police. I hope you don’t have any children who could be harmed by your misguided paranoia.
No wonder South Africa has such a high and horrific crime rate. Criminals are being protected by gun free South Africa and the ANC government who are their friends.
May 4th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Gun Free SA? Dream on. If guns were banned overnight, how would that remove guns from the hands of criminals, criminals ignore laws anyway.
A classic example was prohibition in the USA. Drunkeness as a matter of record INCREASED by over 30%, and gave rise to a problem that still blights to the USA to this day, the Mafia.
Northern Ireland? Despite being totally illegal, the IRA managed to get hold of AK47′s machine guns, RPG’s, Semtex, you name it, they got it.
If a band of criminals enter your home intent of raping your wife and daughters how are you going to stop them, follow the advice of Gun Free SA and give them what they want? Or are you going to fight them off, but once guns are removed from our hands, how will you manage to fight them off? Feather dusters or kind words?
I suggest you wake up and smell the roses.
June 19th, 2010 at 12:13 am
My thoughts are dirty of your dirty Hobby
July 9th, 2010 at 8:42 am
i think that gun control should always be imposed at all times to reduce violence.’*`