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As bullets fly, S. Africa
seeks muzzle control
But critics say having cops enforce tougher gun laws
will detract from battle against rising crime
By Laurie Goering
Tribune foreign correspondent
JOHANNESBURG -- First, James' cell
phone was stolen at gunpoint. Then a group of armed robbers showed up twice at
his house in Thokoza township, trying unsuccessfully to break down the door as
he, his wife and their 5-year-old son begged them to leave.
"They had guns; I had nothing," the shaken 29-year-old
recalls.
This week, the young father who had never touched a gun in his life
put a deposit on a 9 mm pistol and headed to a gun range outside Johannesburg to
learn how to fire a weapon.
"I'm not happy to have a gun in the house, but with this crime
there's nothing I can do," he said, curling his fingers around the
unfamiliar blue steel grip with an instructor's help. "I need this to
protect myself and my family."
South Africa, with one of the world's highest violent crime
rates, is in the process of enacting tough gun control laws in an effort to stem
the carnage on the streets, including the more than 10,000 murders committed
with firearms a year.
The question is whether the changes will succeed in keeping guns
out of the hands of criminals, as the government hopes, or just make getting and
keeping self-defense weapons tougher for people such as James, who did not want
his last name published for fear criminals again would try to break into
his house, this time to steal his gun.
"Once they know you have a gun they're going to shoot
you first," he said. "I think the stronger laws are good, but I don't
know if they're going to work."
Long history of gun control
South Africa, like the United States, has a long history
of widespread gun ownership, largely for hunting and sporting purposes. The
country of 45 million people has about 4.5 million registered guns, a number
that has been rising since the end of apartheid, when black South Africans won
the right to buy and carry weapons. No one is sure how many illegal guns--stolen
or smuggled in, some during the anti-apartheid struggle--also are
circulating.
Unlike the United States, South Africa also has a history of
national gun control dating back to the years of British colonialism. To
purchase a gun, a potential owner is required to undergo a criminal background
check and promise to keep the weapon locked away. Most police stations
also require proof of training in the use of a firearm and take at least three
months to approve a license, which can provide a cooling-off period.
Under the new Firearms Control Act, likely to come into
effect in November, gun owners will be limited to a maximum of four guns,
including just one for self-defense. For each weapon they will have to prove a
need for ownership and submit to reregistry every two to five years, depending
on the type of firearm.
For each type of weapon, owners will have to complete a
firearms training and safety course at an accredited facility and demonstrate
the ability to shoot accurately. They also will have to allow police into their
homes to inspect their gun safes and must submit to substantial background
checks--friends or neighbors will be interviewed--to reveal any history of
domestic violence or drug or alcohol abuse, measures that go well beyond most
U.S. gun controls.
"Gun dealers say the police can't manage it," said
Sheena Duncan, the national chairwoman of Gunfree South Africa, a lobbying
organization that supports the new gun controls. "But it's the same as
getting a new driver's license."
Thefts of guns common
In a country where home robberies and guns thefts are
common--22,000 were reported stolen over 12 months in 2002-03--reregistry
"will be a check on whether you still have the gun you're licensed
for," Duncan said. "In the past, people were hesitant to report the
loss of a gun since they feared being charged with negligence. Now they have to
report, and that should make people more careful."
Gun-owner groups, however, say the new law targets
law-abiding gun owners and will be a huge burden on an overtaxed and
undertrained police force, pulling officers away for bureaucratic
gun-registration duty when they need to be fighting crime on the street.
Alex Holmes, chairman of the National Firearms Forum, an
umbrella body of hunters, sports shooters and arms manufacturers, estimates that
for the new gun registry system to function efficiently, about 5 percent to 6
percent of South Africa's police force would need to work full-time carrying out
home visits, interviews and other needed checks.
"We accept the principle of licensing in a fair,
efficient manner," he said. But "we need a system that will actually
function. If they try to implement something they don't have the capacity for,
the system will grind to a halt."
Holmes said more than 10,000 police visits to owners who had
more than 10 guns in their possession, carried out ahead of the new law, found
no evidence that any of the weapons was linked to a crime. That suggests that
more careful policing of licensed gun owners "is a massive squandering of
police time and resources," he said.
"You can spend all the time you want looking at guns, but it's
the criminal groups that misuse them that are the problem," Holmes said.
At the Golden City shooting range,
where Johannesburg handgun owners gather on Saturday mornings to practice their
firing skills on paper targets marked with torsos, most say they own a firearm
because of criminal attacks rather than any interest in shooting.
"If there wasn't all this crime I wouldn't even bother
to learn how to use a gun," said Lee-Ann Duraan, who suffered two
carjacking attempts in 10 days, one while her mother and her sister's baby were
in the car.
The best outcome of South Africa's new gun regulation may be the
requirement for standardized training, which focuses as much on when not to use
a gun as on how to shoot straight.
In his first day of instruction, James spent hours with
instructor Tyron Botha going through scenarios of when firing his gun
might be legal and reasonable.
"If your life or someone else's life is in danger, then
and only then do you use your gun," the instructor emphasized.
Photo for the Tribune by Edward
Ruiz
A firearms instructor aids Lee-Ann Duraan on handgun use. Duraan
sought a license after two carjacking attempts in 10 days.
