Gun Free South Africa says the destruction of seized and surrendered firearms should happen more regularly if the police want to curb the flow of unlicensed guns in the country.
The organisation was commenting ahead of the planned destruction of over 30 000 firearms on Wednesday.
The weapons were seized during police operations.
The last such destruction took place in October 2016.
The destruction will be witnessed by Police Minister Bheki Cele and National Commissioner Kehla Sithole.
Researcher at Gun Free SA Claire Taylor says, “Gun free SA welcomes today’s (Wednesday’s) destruction and we would call for more regular destructionS. We have also made a submission to the police urging that there be independent verification of this and future destructions to ensure that the guns that are listed to be destroyed today (Wednesday) are in fact still in police stores and that they are destroyed. Not only will this ensure that guns can’t leak from police stores into communities but will also build confidence in the police that they are going to destroy guns if the public wants to hand them in.”
Wednesday 17 April 2019: Gun Free South Africa welcomes today’s destruction by @SAPoliceService of 30,000 seized and surrendered firearms. The destruction will be followed by a media briefing which will be led by the Minister of Police, Minister Bheki Cele. #GunDestruction pic.twitter.com/ayMMis9GfJ
— Gun Free SA (@GunFreeSA) April 17, 2019
GFSA made a submission requesting that guns and are marked, verified and that data is shared. #GunDestruction pic.twitter.com/VrZ6kDwLDk
— Gun Free SA (@GunFreeSA) April 17, 2019
The firearms which are going to be destroyed were either seized, surrendered or forfeited to the state. @SAPoliceService details of guns for today’s #gundestruction pic.twitter.com/zL7bFwGSMh
— Gun Free SA (@GunFreeSA) April 17, 2019
The details of the #GunDestruction are as follows:
Date: Wednesday, 17 April 2019
Time: 09:30 for 10:00
Venue: Arcelor Mittal Steel, Mario Milani Drive, Vereeniging— Gun Free SA (@GunFreeSA) April 17, 2019