In February this year, more than 3,000 firearms and at least 31,000 knives were destroyed in Vereeniging in Gauteng. These are just a few reported cases of firearm destruction initiatives that took place in South Africa over the past few months. Many of these weapons had been lost by or stolen from legal owners or had been voluntarily surrendered by the legal owners to the state for destruction.According to the SAPS' 2011/2012 annual report, firearm confiscation figures for the past three years include:
21,268 firearms and 295,085 rounds of ammunition in 2009/10
19,327 firearms and 255,924 rounds of ammunition in 2010/11
25,615 firearms and 264,720 rounds of ammunition in 2011/12
The rise in firearm confiscations over the past three years can be attributed to increased police visibility, crime prevention operations and the implementation of the Firearms Control Act. Day-to-day operations conducted by the SAPS, such as testing legal compliance to possess a firearm as well as the confiscation of illegally possessed firearms, have all contributed to these figures.The figures above present a positive trend in firearm confiscations over the three-year period. However, it is worrying that such a high proportion of weapons confiscated were legal firearms. In the three years between 2009 and 2012, 30,414 confiscated firearms were legal guns that had found their way into the illicit market as a result of their having been lost or stolen. This accounts for just under half the amount of confiscated firearms over this time period. Firearms remain one of the key weapons used in acts of criminal activity and violence.
