How gun control can save women’s lives

About 4,500 women’s lives were saved across five South African cities between 2001 and 2005 and this can be ascribed to effective gun control, writes the author. Photo: Augustas Didžgalvi (via Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0)

As we mark International Women’s Day on 8 March, South Africa faces a devastating femicide crisis. According to the latest annual crime statistics, up to 15 women were murdered every day in 2023/4. This shocking number represents more than a doubling of the death toll since 2020, when “only” seven women were murdered daily.

While the murder statistics are not perfectly accurate and COVID restrictions impacted on intimate partner killings during periods when alcohol sales were completely banned or heavily restricted, the evidence is clear: guns are the leading weapon in these murders.

Recent Medical Research Council (MRC) research analysing 20 years of femicide data shows that the proportion of women shot dead has reached its highest level ever. Coinciding with the increase in gun-related femicide is a 58% increase in applications for new gun licences and an additional 160,000 licensed guns in civilian hands, and thus homes across the country. This is significant because national research shows that a legal gun is more likely to be used in intimate-femicide suicides (when a partner of a woman kills her and then commits suicide within a week).

What makes this crisis particularly tragic is that we know femicide is preventable. South Africa has proven this before. Between 1999 and 2009, we witnessed a remarkable decline in femicide rates, attributed primarily to the implementation of the Firearms Control Act (FCA) of 2000. This legislation, complemented by targeted policing interventions to reduce gun availability, saved approximately 4,500 lives across five South African cities between 2001 and 2005.

However, the gains made have been steadily eroding. Poor enforcement of gun control measures and increasing firearm ownership correlate directly with more women dying. Disturbingly, research shows that women are most at risk of being killed by their intimate partners, and legal guns are more likely to be used in intimate-femicide suicides.

The case of Sasha-Lee Shah, murdered by her ex-boyfriend in 2022, illustrates the deadly consequences of system failures. Despite a protection order where a magistrate instructed police to remove his licensed firearm, the Designated Firearms Officer failed to act. In her application, Sasha-Lee wrote, “I cannot live a normal life with continuous stalking and threats from this man. I do not fear what he is capable of as he has a firearm … I fear for my life everyday with his threats.” As a result of state negligence, her fears proved tragically prophetic.

We face several challenges enforcing the provisions of the FCA that could protect women.

Courts fail to declare domestic abusers unfit for gun ownership. There’s no clear process to ensure firearms are surrendered by gun owners declared unfit. Even more concerning, up to one million gun owners remain exempt from the FCA’s competency certification and licence renewal requirements due to a 2009 interim court order that has never been discharged. Systemic dysfunction at the Central Firearms Registry further undermines enforcement efforts.

Any interventions to address SA’s femicide – and homicide – crisis must recognise the role of gender. Men are overwhelmingly the victims of most crime and irrespective of the victim’s gender, the perpetrator is almost always a man. This raises questions about the link between masculinity and violence and the extraordinary vulnerability of men being victims of crime and violence, as research shows a close association between men who are victimised becoming offenders.

An immediate and quick way to address the murder crisis in SA is to focus on the weapon. President Ramaphosa acknowledged our gun violence crisis in his 2025 State of the Nation Address, but words must translate into concrete action.

Six urgent steps can protect women’s lives:

First, streamline the process for declaring at-risk people unfit to own firearms and ensure their guns are physically surrendered.

Second, discharge the 2009 interim court order that exempts apartheid-era gun licences from the FCA’s “fit and proper” requirements. This 16-year loophole must be closed immediately.

Third, transform the dysfunctional Central Firearms Registry into an effective unit, even if it means outsourcing its management.

Fourth, properly train and hold accountable police officers responsible for firearm-related issues, particularly those conducting background checks on licence applicants.

Fifth, make it mandatory for magistrates and police officers to immediately remove guns in domestic violence situations, regardless of whether victims specifically request this action.

Finally, permanently disqualify at-risk people from gun ownership. Research shows that proactively restricting access to guns by at-risk people is more effective than reactively removing them. Permanent disqualification would mean making a declaration of unfitness a lifetime ban and recognising drunk driving convictions as grounds for prohibition, given the established link between alcohol abuse and violence.

Notably absent from South Africa’s National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide is any mention of the role firearms play in this crisis. This glaring omission must be addressed, and a gender-responsive National Action Plan on firearms must be developed.

The evidence is unequivocal: Stronger gun control saves women’s lives. We’ve proven this before in South Africa, and we can do it again. But we must act now.

The author is with Gun Free South Africa. This article is based on a policy briefing: Gun-related femicide in SA over 25 years: A call to action

Views expressed are not necessarily GroundUp’s.

Support independent journalism
Donate using Payfast