A look at gun laws in South Africa

Two mass shootings in South Africa had left 19 people dead, police said Sunday. Fifteen people were killed in Soweto while four people died during a shootout in the eastern city of Pietermaritzburg.

In South Africa, civilian possession of firearms is lawful but only after one fulfils the required criteria, including obtaining a license. The Firearms Control Act, 2004, replaced the 1968 law, which permitted relatively widespread access to legal firearms.

Under the current rules, firearm license applicants are required to undergo detailed background checks and pass a firearm competency test. Only those 21 years or older can apply for a license. 

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Last year, the Civilian Secretariat for Police Services which serves as the technical advisory agency to the Minister of Police urged to have the Firearms Control Act amended to introduce more stringent firearm licensing measures. Under the proposed amendments, the agency wanted to reduce the number of new licensed firearms in circulation. If the amendments become law, obtaining a firearm license for self defence purposes will not be allowed.

Gun-linked deaths are a problem and there is a growing push for tighter gun control laws in the country. Illegal guns have been widely used in firearm murders and other types of violent crimes in South Africa.

The annual number of murders in South Africa has increased by 37% since 2011/12.

Following the latest incident, Gun Free South Africa (GFSA) director Adele Kirsten said that South Africa has a gun epidemic.

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“We have a gun epidemic, it’s shocking, it’s tragic and it’s preventable. And so the key issue, what we’re not doing is we’re not reducing the pool of guns that are available. Where do these guns come from? They were all once legal, they come from the legal pool. There are a number of sources of weapons, there are a number of ways in which illegal guns move from the legal market, into the illicit market,” Kirsten told SABC News.