Cape Town – Gun Free South Africa has calling on the government to act decisively in ownership of guns to prevent more massacres after raising concern following a spate of mass shootings in the country.
It says the recent killings in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal will not be the last if authorities do not act fast as these shootings are becoming a trend.
Speaking to eNCA, Adele Kirsten, from Gun Free South Africa, said they were of the belief that if the government didn’t confiscate guns in South Africa, mass shootings would continue.
"You can’t have these kind of mass shootings where several people are armed with powerful weapons going into a group situation. That enables so many people to be killed at one time.
"Over the last 10 years, we have seen a steady increase in guns leaking into hands from civilian owners and from state officials.
"In the past 18 months we've seen this new pattern of mass shootings. In some way it's new, because in the 80s in KwaZulu-Natal we had these kinds of mass shootings," she said.
She said that the main concern about these shootings was that they take place in different areas such as rural areas, townships and hostels. She added that another trend they had noticed was that women were also involved in these shootings.
"There are some shifting patterns in terms of trends involving criminal acts. It raises questions as to what the government’s analysis is and, most importantly, what their response will be in fighting these cases.
"There are obvious things that the government needs to do; they need to set up a specialised arms unit which will look at these incidents. They need a very clear strategy going forward and this has to take place immediately," Kirsten said
IOL