Gun Free SA calls on SAPS, communities to rid streets of nearly 500k unlicensed firearms
The call from the firearms advocacy group comes after 18 deaths were recorded in Cape Town townships in June alone.
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CAPE TOWN - Firearms advocacy group Gun Free South Africa is calling for joint effort by the South African Police Service (SAPS) and communities to remove nearly 500,000 unlicensed guns circulating on the streets.
The call comes after 18 deaths were recorded in Cape Town townships in June alone.
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Langa, Khayelitsha, Delft, Nyanga and Gugulethu have been the notable hotspots for multiple deaths committed through firearms.
“Getting guns out of circulation should be the priority of SAPS. They are the only agency that can really do this,” said the director of Gun Free South Africa, Adele Kirsten.
“They have the skills and the resources to recover these guns, to track and trace them so that we understand the source of these guns, and then to destroy them."