Parliamentary replies to questions from the Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) regarding murders committed with legally licensed firearms versus illegal firearms over the past four years provide an irrefutable argument in the debate on disarming law-abiding citizens.
Statistics provided by the acting Minister of Police, Prof. Firoz Cachalia, clearly show that South Africa’s firearm crime problem stems from unlicensed firearms in the hands of criminals, as 99% of murders were committed with illegal firearms.
In the four financial years from 2022/23 to 2025/26, 41 297 murders were committed with illegal, unlicensed firearms – that is more than 28 murders per day.
In contrast, only 393 people were killed with legally licensed firearms in the same period. Many of these likely occurred in self-defence, which means the actual number of unlawful murders committed with legal weapons is even lower.
The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) asked the Minister how many people were murdered with a legal firearm owned by a licensed holder compared to an unlicensed firearm in each of the past four years.
Questions were also asked about murders committed with unlicensed firearms that had previously belonged to the police, the Defence Force or metro police (complete questions and replies attached).
The reply indicated the following:
• 2022/23: 120 murders committed with legal firearms versus 10 613 with illegal firearms.
• 2023/24: 90 versus 10 911.
• 2024/25: 108 versus 10 450.
• 2025/26: 75 versus 9 323.
It is also evident that firearms that disappeared from police possession pose a serious problem. Over the same period, 38, 40, 24 and 40 people, respectively, were murdered with firearms that had previously belonged to the police.
The Freedom Front Plus still maintains that legally licensed firearm owners are not the problem – criminals with illegal firearms are.
Government should stop attempting to disarm honest citizens, and should rather focus on recovering and controlling the hundreds of thousands of illegal firearms in circulation, including those stolen from law-enforcement agencies.
In a country where criminals seem to have a steady supply of illegal firearms and do not hesitate to use them, law-abiding citizens’ ability to defend themselves should not be curtailed.
Freedom Front Plus Historical Context: The FF Plus emerged from the political changes following the end of apartheid.
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