SOUTH AFRICA: With 4½ million guns South Africa has the world's highest murder rate. Bill Corcoran reports from Johannesburg on efforts to stop the slaughter
The director and two curators of the South African National Museum of Military and History were arrested unceremoniously recently for allegedly stockpiling illegally held weapons and military vehicles as if "preparing for war".
After hearing of the raid, the arts and cultural ministry's director general, Mr Itumeleng Mosala, went to the Johannesburg museum where he said military intelligence told him that over 1,000 illegal firearms were to be confiscated and destroyed.
"According to these guys, the number of weapons being kept there could raise Soweto to the ground within two minutes," he told local media afterwards.
Although highly criticised for the way the operation was carried out, the South African National Defence Force was unrepentant, and claimed the operation was part of its drive to bring the nation's "surplus" gun issue under control.
The high-profile incident took place just two weeks after the government launched a separate campaign to rid the country of illegally held weapons. A three-month amnesty was announced in which police would receive and dispose of unregistered guns which have not been used in a crime, with no questions asked.
To coincide with the amnesty, police have been operating special roadblocks to check cars and buses for illicit weapons.
A firearms law introduced last August is also making it more difficult to own a gun legally, and many gun shop owners have reported difficulties in getting clients' gun licences renewed.
That there is a need to rid South Africa of illegally held firearms is not in question. But many in the pro-gun camp are afraid that the new controls will leave them less able to protect themselves if the need arises.
About 4½ million guns are registered in private hands, and it has been estimated that between 1994 and 2001 over 180,000 firearms were either lost or stolen. Many of these missing weapons have been used in the countless violent murders - almost 20,000 in the year leading up to March 2004 - that occur in South Africa each year.
South Africa is the undisputed world champion in the league table for murders per population among countries not involved in a conflict. There are 55 murder per 100,000 people - 35 more than its nearest rivals Russia.
Young children die from gunshot wounds weekly; innocent victims are caught in the crossfire of gun battles and car-jackings that plague the townships. Often the most innocuous arguments lead to fatal consequences. Last month three young men were shot dead following an apparently minor tussle on a beach near Cape Town.
Mr Greg Andrews, of the lobby group Gun-Free SA, said the carnage is a spillover from the political violence of the apartheid era, although now it is fuelled by poverty and the prevalence of small firearms.
"To diminish the high death tolls we have to get rid of the handguns that are being used to perpetrate the crimes," he said.
Mr Andrews, who is the organisation's regional chairman in the Western Cape, hopes the Fire Arms Control Act will go some way to achieving this goal.
"While we recognise people need to defend themselves, studies show that being in possession of a gun causes more danger than not having one," he said.
This view was reinforced last year when the former Springbok, Rudi Visagie, shot his daughter dead because he thought the person behind the wheel of her car in the early hours of the morning was a thief.
"Despite these instances, many people still want a gun," he said, "so we suggested a provision of one gun per person for self-defence in the act."
Supt Jacques Vanlill of Bellville in the Western Cape said he believed the new gun laws would have a significant impact over the coming years. For instance, a deceased's estate will not be legally finalised until all guns registered to that person are accounted for.
"The idea is not to disarm the community, but we have to get the proper checks and balances in place. In the old days there were no limitations, and people often had up to 12 guns, many of which were handed down through the generations," he said.
However, Supt Vanlill said the average South African would be allowed to own a handgun or pump action shotgun, but not a fully- or semi-automatic weapon.
Also, in a legal development that has pleased farmers, the act will ensure that dedicated hunters and those involved in gun sports can apply for gun licence renewals through separate categories which allow for the possession of a variety of weapons.
"The law will not make a difference to most of our members, it just adds extra administration costs - crime is about illegally held firearms," said Lourie Bosnan, president of white farmers' group Agri SA.
However, sceptics of the government's arms reduction initiative fear tighter gun regulations will push people towards buying illegal weapons. They also say the amnesty will have little effect, that the guns used to commit crimes will not be handed over because of the threat of prosecution.
This appears, initially at least, to be the case in the Western Cape Province, where only 100 illegal weapons were handed in during the first 2½ weeks of the amnesty.
Nonetheless, Supt Vanlill said he was optimistic: "We have started a media campaign urging people to come forward with their weapons and this should help over time."