It’s a people problem
Via Marc comes this wonderful article about a nationwide firearm audit with a view to establishing the number of weapons held by the public in Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police on November 21 began a nationwide firearm audit with a view to establishing the number of weapons held by the public.
Under the exercise, which is expected to end tomorrow, although an extension of the period cannot be ruled out, holders of firearms were encouraged to visit their nearest police station and show the weapons and their licences.
The exercise, which in our view is laudable, comes in the wake of a number of violent and often fatal crimes involving the use of firearms.
Such crimes have lately become disquietingly common not just in Zimbabwe but throughout the world.
Hardly a month goes by without some newspaper somewhere in the world carrying a story of some lunatics gunning down several people and then turning the weapons on themselves.
In Zimbabwe, people holding firearms illegally or legally have become so many that working as a policeman has become a dangerous undertaking as police officers now live in fear of being shot at in the course of duty.
We feel that Zimbabwe can draw useful lessons from the American experience where unrestricted access to firearms has been blamed for the horrendous mortality of a significant percentage of the population from gunshot wounds.
Owning a gun is not a constitutional right in Zimbabwe.
Significant portion? Not according to the CDC. It’s about 28K per year. With 300M Americans, that’s about 0.0093%.
The rest is mostly emotional screed:
Guns give people courage to do things that they would not even dream of without the weapons.
Craven cowards, once armed, will readily go into a confrontation. Use of a gun – because it is fired from and kills at a distance – depersonalises murder and prompts gun holders to commit crime.
Well, in the US gun permits have correlated with a decrease in crime. Thought you were drawing on the American model?
We doubt if people who shoot others to death would have the courage to kill without the guns.
We believe that the number of guns stashed away in people’s homes is too high for comfort and hereby propose a re-vetting of people who were given gun licences.
We have more guns per person here in the US but we don’t have mass violence, except in places where there are fewer guns.
The need to train people on proper use of firearms and to familiarise them with safety precautions or responsible gun handling and storage is crucial.
A disturbing number of people who have licenced firearms are not trained in the use of weapons. They are therefore a hazard to themselves and others.
In our view, the condition of gun ownership should be a required demonstration by written and practical testing, of safe use.
Sound familiar?
