Dear Portfolio Committee on Police,

I'm a SA citizen, residing in Olifantsfontein, Gauteng Province.

I am writing to submit my opinion on gun ownership and control by civilians in a crime-torn South Africa.
I concur with the research study conducted and concretely identified a link between high civilian firearm ownership and high crime, the majority of crimes committed using stolen guys and formally owned guns do not warrant gun ownership and control by civilians.
Gun license should be reserved for a member of the SAPS, private security, and nay other protective institutions/professions, who shall hand over such guns and ammunition for safekeeping at work premises safes at the expiry of an official duty/shift.

South Africa, with such an alarming rate of guns driven and guns perpetrated violent crimes, murder weapon of choice being guns, is indicative of the total failure of the current Firearms Control legislation, surely things have to change in the issuing of handgun licences.

As a nation, we need to accept that what has been done over the years with Firearms Control is Inadequate and that the current Firearms Control strategies have regrettably led us to this predicament.

The concerned parties within the civil society of Gun Owners Associations, Guns Retailers, Guns Dealers/Distributors, Shooting Ranges will always seek to protect their industry in the name of self-defense, protecting civilians, and their properties at a private or individual capacity when a threat or robbery takes place, even at gunpoint, as a deterrent to criminals being aware that they would meet with the restraining force when civilians have guns.

The truth is, South Africans are living in fear because of guns, and people are losing lives every day in South Africa at gunpoint