South Africa has operated for years under strict gun control laws.
At the same time, firearms held by police for destruction were diverted into criminal hands and later linked by investigators to more than 1,000 murders.
That history drew renewed attention as South Africa held the presidency of the Twelfth Conference of States Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty in Geneva, Switzerland.
National Association for Gun Rights President Dudley Brown attended the August 24–28 conference and criticized the contrast between South Africa’s civilian firearms restrictions and the failure to keep firearms in police custody from reaching criminal gangs.
“Some would say South Africa is a product of this agenda,” Brown told conference delegates.
Guns Marked for Destruction Ended Up With Criminal Gangs
South Africa enacted the Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000, which the South African government says was intended to establish a “comprehensive and effective system of firearms control.”
The law governs licensing, competency requirements and other aspects of civilian firearm possession.
But firearms already held by the government were later diverted into criminal hands.
A published criminology study reported that approximately 2,000 firearms were transferred to criminal gangs by a corrupt South African Police Service official. SAPS investigators later linked 888 of those firearms to 1,066 murders between 2010 and 2016.
The firearms had been held in police stores and were awaiting destruction.
A later class-action case against the South African Police Service alleges that approximately 2,000 guns stolen from police stores and supplied to Cape Flats gangs were used to kill more than 1,000 people, including 67 children, while thousands more were injured.
Those class-action figures remain allegations by the plaintiffs. The underlying diversion of firearms from police custody, however, is separately documented in academic research and court-related records.
Brown summarized his criticism with a blunt statement:
“The state took their guns and armed their killers.”
South Africa Takes the Gavel at Arms Trade Treaty Conference
Against that backdrop, South Africa held the presidency of this year’s Arms Trade Treaty conference.
The ATT States Parties elected South African diplomat Tsholofelo Glenda Tsheole President of the Twelfth Conference of States Parties, and the conference met in Geneva from August 24 through August 28.
The official ATT schedule confirms that CSP12 was held at the Centre International de Conférences Genève during those dates.
The Arms Trade Treaty regulates international transfers of conventional weapons, including small arms and light weapons. It does not itself determine the domestic scope of the Second Amendment in the United States.
Gun-rights organizations, including NAGR and Texas Gun Rights, nevertheless scrutinize international small-arms initiatives because of their potential relevance to broader firearms-policy debates.
Texas Gun Rights Points to the South African Experience
Texas is thousands of miles from Geneva and South Africa, but Texas Gun Rights argues the underlying issue has relevance to American debates over firearms regulation.
South Africa imposed extensive controls on civilian firearm ownership while its police system separately failed to prevent firearms awaiting destruction from being diverted into criminal markets.
The police-diversion scandal does not, by itself, establish the overall effect of South Africa’s firearms laws on crime. It does document a major failure in government control over weapons already in state custody.
Texas Gun Rights President Chris McNutt said the episode should be considered when governments seek broader authority over privately owned firearms.
“South Africa should be a warning to every gun owner in Texas and across America,” McNutt said.
“The same government that demands peaceful citizens surrender more control over their firearms cannot guarantee those guns will stay out of the hands of violent criminals. Texans should never surrender their Second Amendment rights to politicians, bureaucrats, or the United Nations.”
Texas Gun Rights Foundation will continue opposing efforts at home or abroad that threaten the right of peaceful Americans to keep and bear arms. Chip in today to help TXGRF keep fighting.
