#GunFreeValentine: Get rid of guns at home

File picture.

File picture.

Published Feb 14, 2016

Share

Durban - Beware: if your partner owns a gun, you could be the next target.

This is the message Gun Free South Africa, the Institute for Security Studies and Sonke Gender Justice is sending out this Valentine’s Day.

This week, the organisations launched the #GunFreeValentine campaign to highlight the fact that women in South Africa are more likely to be killed by an intimate partner than by a stranger, with firearms in the home posing a specific risk.

“The #GunFreeValentine campaign, which runs from February 14 until International Women’s Day on March 8, is a call to action,” says Angelica Pino of Sonke Gender Justice.

“It aims to alert women to the risks of having a gun in the home and how the law can be used to save a life.

“Both the Firearms Control Act and Domestic Violence Act give South African women the power to take action against domestic violence by asking the police or court officials to confiscate firearms or other dangerous weapons when a domestic violence complaint involving a gun or other weapon is made,” she said.

This Valentine’s Day also marks the third anniversary of the death of model Reeva Steenkamp, who was shot dead by her Paralympian boyfriend, Oscar Pistorius.

Research by the Medical Research Council of SA shows 57 percent of women killed in South Africa are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends, and a woman is killed by her intimate partner every eight hours.

It was also established that a legal gun was used in 75 percent of cases in which a woman was shot dead, and in 60 percent of cases the shooting occurred in her home.

According to Gun Free SA, the #GunFreeValentine campaign is being launched on Valentine’s Day because in a patriarchal country gun ownership is sometimes seen as a sign of love – a man buys a gun to protect himself and his family from danger.

“It is a myth that a gun in the home makes a family safer. Research shows a woman is at greater risk of being shot in her home with a gun owned by her partner than of being shot by a stranger,” said Adèle Kirsten of Gun Free SA.

The institute believes an effective short-term response to reducing instances of intimate partner violence is to remove the weapon.

“Guns are inherently deadly. Proactive action by the police and courts to get guns out of the home can save lives by making domestic violence less lethal,” said the institute’s gender expert, Romi Sigsworth.

Any woman who lives in fear of a gun or other dangerous weapon in her home can ask the police or courts to remove the weapon.

[email protected]

Sunday Tribune

Related Topics: