Post Date: 19 May 2022
In an interview on 17 May 2022 on the radio station CAPE TALK, recently retired police general Jeremy Vearey, stated inter alia that guns in criminal hands originate from private owners. Not only is this statement the hackneyed nonsense we have come to expect from Gun Free South Africa – whom he now represents – but it is also dangerously untrue.
Had he done any research before shooting (intended pun) off his mouth, Vearey would have found that the origin of illegally held firearms in South Africa is to a very limited reason attributable to private citizens who have been victims of crime. By and far the biggest source of illegally held firearms in SA is from the South African Police Service, the South African National Defence Force as well as from outside sources such as Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Mozambique.
It boggles the mind that a former senior police officer can make such a statement. One wonders what Vearey did about this matter – if anything – while he was still serving and had the authority, as well as the responsibility, to act to safeguard the citizens of South Africa. Clearly he failed in executing his Constitutional duty to “prevent, combat and investigate crime, to maintain public order, (to) protect and secure the inhabitants of the Republic and their property and to uphold and enforce the law – (sec 205(3) of the Constitution).
How he can now blame his own failure on law abiding citizens, who are the victims of crimes he was sworn to protect, is beyond belief. He either simply accepted the situation or was incompetent, which is exactly proved by what he said. His association therefore with Gun Free South Africa is not surprising.
Issued by THE SAGA TRUST
South African Gunowners’ Association (SAGA)
Office Tel: 031-562-9724 Fax: 086-553-9615
Email: saga@saga.org.za Website: www.saga.org.za
PO Box 35203, Northway, 4065