Gun comments split Pistorius family

Johannesburg, March 5: A remarkably public feud erupted Tuesday within the family of Oscar Pistorius, the doubleamputee Olympian charged with murdering his girlfriend, as the runner and his relatives distanced themselves from comments his father reportedly made about guns and crime in South Africa.

South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress, also waded into the family dispute. A spokesman for the party accused Henke Pistorius, the runner’s father, of racism for his observations reported in British newspapers about crime against white South Africans and the suggestion that the ANC government isn’t adequately protecting them.

The Pistorius family and the reputation management firm it has hired are

Some of the guns are for hunting and some are for protection, the hand guns... You can’t rely on the police, not ’cos they are inefficient always but because crime is so rife

working to head off any negative publicity or controversy quickly issued a statement early Tuesday morning saying the family “is deeply concerned” about the father’s interview that “doesn’t represent the views of Oscar or the rest of the Pistorius family.”

The Telegraph and Mirror newspapers quoted Henke Pistorius as saying the family owns handguns for self-defence.

Oscar Pistorius had a police license for the 9 mm pistol with which he shot Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine’s Day.

The gun collectors’ club, the Lowveld Firearm Collectors Association, which the runner joined last April said Pistorius also owned but hadn’t yet licensed six other firearms for his gun collection.

South Africa’s Beeld newspaper reported that the runner’s father, three uncles and grandfather also own 55 firearms between them — ranging from handguns to rifles.

“Some of the guns are for hunting and some are for protection, the hand guns,” the Telegraph quoted Henke Pistorius as saying. “It speaks to the ANC government, look at white crime levels, why protection is so poor in this country, it’s an aspect of our society.”

“You can’t rely on the police, not because they are inefficient always but because crime is so rife,” the father said, according to the newspaper.

It also said he had never used a gun in self-defence.

— AP