Men get a bang out of guns. But not Claire Taylor, co-ordinator at Gun Free South Africa, who has the following to say:

“While having a gun may make you feel safer, it doesn’t make you safer. Gun-related deaths are not indiscriminate acts of chance that randomly affect people. There is a simple cause and effect – the presence of a gun puts everyone at risk of injury and death. For many South Africans, having a gun in the home is about protecting themselves, their families and possessions against an intruder, but data both in South Africa and elsewhere shows that you’re four times more likely to have your gun used against you than to use it successfully in self-defence. And because guns don’t have a sell-by-date, once it’s been stolen it will continue to be used to perpetrate crimes against others.”