A recent article by an academic illustrates the ongoing battle to disarm South Africans, and Firearms.co.za refuses to allow firearm owners to be blamed for the country’s high violent crime rates. Armchair figure
In his article, Guy Lamb argues that the ‘risks of gun ownership outweigh the reward’. Lamb argues that despite South Africa ranking as one of the top countries in terms of private gun ownership, crimes such as robberies and hijackings remain at an all time high, and that owning a gun is one of the contributing factors to these numbers. He further adds that one of the primary articles stolen in house robberies are firearms and hence encourage criminality rather than being a deterrent. He also adds that the prevalence of guns contributes to road rage incidents and children being harmed during accidental discharges.
It is ridiculous to claim that legally armed South Africans should disarm themselves because criminals want to steal their guns. In addition, road rage incidents and accidental discharge of a firearm that results in the death of a child (while tragic), are extremely rare, and happen due to poor training and discipline.
The fallacy that guns create criminals:
Founder of Safe Citizen, a community based safety NPO, Jonathan Deal says that Lamb’s argument, like every other anti-gun ownership argument, loses all credibility with the fallacy that violent crime solely exists because guns exist.
“Entrenched in this facile approach, appears to be the notion that by reducing the availability of guns in society, we will experience a net gain in the reduction of violent crime. Perhaps it is assumed that persons predisposed to criminal behaviour will steer clear of their criminal tendencies in the absence of a gun,” explained Deal.
“Calling on a 20-year history of researching firearm crime and violence in Africa and serving as an arms trafficking expert for the United Nations, Dr. Lamb agrees that firearms can provide a ‘degree of safety to users’.
“Naturally, he will not be motivated to admit that a licensed firearm in the hands of a law-abiding citizen – and especially a woman – is the only tool that will place a single defender on an equal footing with overwhelming criminal odds.
“He claims instead that firearms present a range of risks for users and society at large, qualifying that statement by saying – ‘ especially if they [guns] are in criminal hands. Of course a gun in criminal hands is a risk to society at large. And of course a gun in law abiding hands is an asset to society at large. .
“Of course they do. My contention is that a criminal who cannot lay his hands on a firearm will possess a knife, an axe or perhaps an iron pole – in fact any weapon that will provide him with a physical advantage in his criminal enterprise.
“In reality, a lawfully owned firearm is an intrinsic and necessary instrument in any country. It enforces the rule of law, protects our leaders from assassins and provides the man in the street with a means to stay alive in this violent country where criminals ply their trade without hindrance,” concluded Deal.
Out of touch:
It is always interesting to observe that those who push for these anti-gun laws usually live in gated communities with private security only the push of a button away. They wax poetic from their ivory towers, far removed from the day to day experiences of ordinary South Africans.
“I can say with a certain degree of confidence that if you ask any one of the 43 000 women that were raped in this country last year, they will admit in a heartbeat that they would have felt much safer had their been a gun in their possession,” said crime activist and founder at Firearms.co.za, Ian Cameron.
“More than 78 people are killed in this country everyday, and they are not law-abiding people who just happen to have guns as Mr Lamb suggests. If a murderer wants to kill, he will find ways to do so, with or without a gun.
“This is what happens when individuals and certain ‘academics’ start acting as Trojan horses for woke NGO’s like Gun Free SA. This is absolute hogwash by Guy Lamb. When you aren’t on the ground in SA you make lawfully armed citizens scapegoats for state failures. It is too easy to sit in an aircon Stellenbosch office ignoring the over 3 million illicit guns circulating in the Southern Region of Africa. I would rather take the risk (which is utterly limited) of facing malicious consequences, than witnessing my family paying the price for my cowardice and/or lack of proactive security actions,” concluded Cameron.
