Botswana should remain gun-free-Kapinga

LEKOPANYE MOOKETSI
Correspondent | Friday June 27, 2008 00:00

But in the past there have been calls that members of the public should be armed in order to defend themselves.  However, the deputy Commissioner of Police, Kenny Kapinga feels that the current system has served the country well. Kapinga supports the ban of handguns because they are used to commit serious crimes such as murder and armed robberies.  He said the problem with handguns is that they are easily concealable.  'You can just walk into a shop with gun and start shooting people,' he said.

He said at the moment, it is not easy to acquire handguns because they are outlawed in this country.   He added that even criminals acquire firearms outside the country and this is not always easy.  Kapinga said the ban on handguns has led to a reduction in crimes in which such weapons could have been used.  He said the police weekly statistics show that the use of firearms is negligible.  'It shows that criminals do not have access to firearms.  This week we had 46 armed robberies and only two cases involved the use of firearms,' he said.

'We believe if you get a gun you are inviting other guys to use the gun on you.  That is why even the police are not armed because we do not want to be shot at,' he said. Kapinga said members of the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) who accompany police officers on patrols are armed because they operate under statutory provisions of the BDF Act.  He said the rules of operation for the BDF and the police are dissimilar.

Kapinga said other countries are admiring Botswana's example of banning firearms for civilians.  He said officials of one of the neighbouring countries that he did not name, visited them to find out how Botswana has managed to control the use of firearms.  'If they had it by yesterday, they would have withdrawn the use of firearms due to violence,' he said.

The police chief says it is specified by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol that governments should come up with laws prohibiting possession of small firearms by civilians.  'We are ahead of this protocol,' he said.

Kapinga said in the past, some members of the society like business people were allowed to carry firearms.  However, he said, the law that allowed the provision of firearms has since been repealed. Lewis Bothongo, the director of the oldest security company in Botswana, Waygard, said he does not support the issuing of firearms to security guards because some of them are unreliable.  He said this could lead to an escalation in crime.  Bothongo said security guards should only be armed if they are offered advanced training like the police and the army. 

However, he is of the view that business people should be allowed to acquire firearms to protect themselves.  Bothongo said they have learnt that there are some business people who are allowed to carry firearms while others are not.  He would like to know the criteria used for one to own a handgun.

He said business people should be armed because their lives are in danger.  In his view, if they are armed, it could act as a deterrent against criminals. He does not feel that if business people were armed, criminals would also resort to using firearms against them.

He cited South Africa where most business people are armed but that does not mean they are always targeted by criminals.  For his part, Maun West MP Ronald Ridge says he supports a gun-free society.  He said if everyone were to have a gun, it would lead to anarchy.  He added that this would be a situation like in the American Wild West.  The outspoken legislator said guns should be strictly controlled.