Police portfolio committee expresses concern over proliferation of illegal firearms

Due to the fact that more than 800 firearms were lost or stolen from police members and more than 18,000 firearms were lost by members of the public or stolen in the 2017/18 financial year, the portfolio committee on police has expressed their concern at the steady growth in the number of illegal firearms in circulation.

As a result, they have called on the police to fast-track investigations into this matter as well as crimes committed using these illegal firearms.

This comes after four people, including a ward councillor from Bloekombos, were shot and killed in two separate incidents over the weekend in Cape Town and another councillor was shot and killed last week in Umlazi, KwaZulu-Natal according to a statement issued by parliament.

Chairperson of the committee Francois Beukman has called on gun-owning individuals and law-enforcement agencies to ensure that firearms are stored safely at all times.

Beukman also extended his heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased and called for thorough investigations and the arrest of the perpetrators.

The portfolio committee reportedly recommended that the police prioritise five steps, in order to effectively deal with the proliferation of illegal firearms in a media statement sent out earlier this year.

Among those recommendations are suggestions such as channelling more resources to the directorate for priority crime investigation’s specialised unit focusing on illegal firearms and implementing more projects and network operations initiated by crime intelligence to deal with gun smuggling by criminal syndicates among other recommendations.

Beukman could not be reached for confirmation about whether or not these recommendations have been implemented.

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