South Africa’s ruling party calls for tougher gun laws

“The time has come for us as a nation to review existing gun control measures with a view to limiting access to guns that end [up] in the wrong hands,” Zizi Kodwa, ANC spokesperson, told journalists at Parliament.

He was addressing the media about the party’s call to review the country’s Firearms Control Act to help reduce the number of illegal guns on South Africa’s streets.

“The ANC calls for the total removal of illegal guns from society as these have proved to be a menace.”

The recent non-fatal shooting of ANC Member of Parliament, Jackson Mthembu, and the conviction of paralympian Oscar Pistorius for shooting his girlfriend, may have also played a role in the ruling party’s decision to change its stance on the laws.

“What they had to contend with was the manifestation of what many innocent citizens of our country have to contend with in dealing with marauding gun-toting criminals who have no regard for human live,” Kodwa said.

“We [also] call on the judiciary to show no mercy for those in possession of illegal guns and those who are guilty of negligence,” said Kodwa, “Maximum sentences should be imposed as a deterrent against those in possession and those who use these guns to mow down other human beings.”

Source: News24