Illegal guns increasing

2005-04-12 13:50

Cape Town - About 20 000 firearms are added to the pool of illegal guns circulating in South Africa each year, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said on Tuesday.

Speaking during debate on his budget vote in the national assembly, he said firearms were the main weapons of choice in the committing of serious and violent crimes.

"We want to reduce those types of crime by between seven and ten percent over the next five years. We are going to employ various tactics to implement that strategy, including mounting raids that will be intelligence-driven in many parts of our country," he said.

During the amnesty period for handing in illegal firearms from January 1 to March 31 this year, police had collected a total of 48 755 firearms and 912 613 rounds of ammunition.

More than 105 000 firearms stolen

Just over half of these firearms (51.5%) were illegal weapons. Most (16 412) came from people taking advantage of the amnesty, while 8 745 were confiscated by police in their normal investigative work.

The remaining 23 598 firearms were handed in by legal owners who no longer wanted to keep the weapons. The amnesty period had since been extended from April 1 to June 30, he said.

"Some of the firearms that have been circulating illegally in South Africa include weapons that were lost by legal owners or were stolen from them."

Between February 2000 and February this year, 105 722 legal firearms were lost or stolen.

"This means that approximately 20 000 weapons a year are added to the illegal pool of firearms that circulate in our country.

"All that we are asking for is that those who possess licensed firearms should exercise responsible ownership and ensure that their legal firearms do not, through any carelessness, boost the stocks of illegal guns," Nqakula said.

- SAPA