Blaming gun ownership is absurd
AN ARTICLE in the Cape Argus (Friday, May 28) in which Police Commissioner Bheki Cele tries to align gun ownership with gender violence is not only disingenuous, it is a work of fiction.
Gender violence in the home is a sickness which has nothing to do with gun ownership by responsible law-abiding citizens.
An abusive husband or boyfriend who is driven to violence in the home by drinking too much will use any means at his disposal to inflict bodily harm on his partner, be it a knife, a club or a frozen bag of carrots. Blaming gun ownership is absurd, ridiculous and an outright fabrication.
Gender violence, as any psychologist will tell you, is driven by various factors including socioeconomic conditions, alcohol abuse, frustration, financial issues, despair, self-loathing, etc. Blaming a gun is nonsense as that would be like blaming a brick, a bag of frozen carrots or a loaf of stale bread on gender violence.
Minister Cele who acts on advice from various quarters, including Gun Free South Africa, which pulls selective stats to make a point and uses the rest of the world’s gun protocols as an example of gun control, is reminded that South Africa is more like Mexico than Finland or Austria where crime is non-existent.
South Africa is a war zone and citizens are entitled to protect themselves and not be treated like children handed sweets at the whim of commissioner Cele who sees the issuing of a gun licence as a favour.
Both Gun Free South Africa and Cele bleating that gun ownership isn’t a right but a privilege, need to answer some simple questions. Who protects a 75 year-old man living on his own in a remote part of town? Who protects an elderly farmer from marauding gangs of criminals in Natal? Who protects a woman living on her own in a dodgy area?
It’s pie in the sky and an outright fallacy to suggest that gun ownership for personal protection contributes to gender violence, or will somehow reduce crime, cash-in-transit heists and gang shootings on the Cape Flats.
COLIN BOSMAN | Newlands