Do Not Punish Our First Line of Defence

Statement by Ian Cameron MP – DA Deputy Spokesperson on Police:

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will oppose any attempt to disarm law-abiding citizens.

We will fight such proposals in Cabinet, in Parliament, and consider legal remedies to protect the constitutional rights of responsible, licensed firearm owners.

This as the Firearms Control Amendment Bill seeks to take guns out of the hands of legal firearm owners while criminals are unaffected.

This position is grounded in the lived reality reflected in the latest crime statistics.

Between 1 October and 31 December 2025, 6 351 South Africans were murdered. That equates to 71 murders per day, nearly three every hour. In the same quarter, 11 430 rapes were recorded, alongside 6 730 attempted murders and 38 442 serious assaults.

These figures confirm that South Africa remains in a sustained violent crime crisis.

At the same time, in many serious crime categories, the detection rate hovers at roughly 12%. Nearly nine out of ten serious crimes do not result in a detected suspect. Detection is not conviction, but without detection there can be no prosecution. Without prosecution, there is no deterrence.

Before government considers tighter controls on compliant firearm owners, it must explain how citizens are expected to protect themselves in an environment where the likelihood of detection and conviction remains so low.

The crisis in South Africa is not law-abiding firearm owners. It is illegal firearms, illicit trafficking, diversion, organised criminal networks and systemic corruption.

Disarming compliant citizens while illegal firearms continue to circulate widely is neither rational nor just.

Do not punish our first line of defence.

In many communities, particularly where police response times are stretched and conviction rates remain weak, lawfully armed citizens are often the immediate line of protection for themselves and their families. They comply with background checks, licensing requirements and strict regulatory oversight. Criminal syndicates do not.

If government is serious about reducing the 71 murders per day, the focus must shift from compliant citizens to the illegal supply chains that arm violent criminals.

This requires structural reform.

Violence in South Africa is geographically concentrated. Gang-driven firearm violence continues to devastate communities in parts of the Western Cape, including precincts such as Nyanga, Khayelitsha and Delft, which consistently rank among the highest murder stations nationally.

Violent crime thrives because the state fails to impose consequences for it. This thriving violent crime drives increasing demand for weapons, including firearms, which other criminal networks then satisfy. If we want to solve the problem of “gun violence”, then we must start by attaching serious consequences to violent crime, and dismantle organised criminal networks.

Centralised policing has not resolved these hotspots.

Where operational competence exists at local and provincial level, it must be enabled rather than obstructed. Expanding policing powers to capable local and provincial governments, such as the City of Cape Town, would allow enhanced forensic and ballistic tracing, faster linking of firearms across crime scenes and stronger racketeering cases against gang leadership. These are practical reforms that improve conviction outcomes and save lives.

South Africans are not interested in turf battles between spheres of government. They are interested in getting home alive.

Short-term stabilisation may calm specific areas temporarily. Only intelligence-led policing, prosecution-driven investigations, expanded local capability and restored integrity within SAPS will produce sustainable results.

The DA will continue to fight for reforms that dismantle illegal firearm networks, strengthen investigations, improve conviction rates and empower competent local governments to act where national systems are failing.

We will not allow responsible citizens to become scapegoats for systemic failure.

South Africans deserve safety grounded in accountability, effective policing and lawful self-defence.