On Friday 12 July, the South African Police Service announced the destruction of 14 595 firearms and firearm parts, emphasizing that the service “remains relentless in its efforts to detect and permanently remove illegal firearms and ammunition in circulation.”
A total of 11 421 handguns, 1 708rifles, 1 205 shotguns, and 28 ‘combination firearms’ were melted down during a destruction process at Vanderbijlpark after being seized by the police or handed in.
Of these firearms, the largest portion, 4 676, were seized in Gauteng. The Western Cape and Eastern Cape followed with 3 117 and 1 834 respectively. February saw a previous batch of 18 077 destroyed. This latest batch of destroyed firearms brings the total of firearms destroyed since 2019 to 263 545. This includes firearms that were voluntarily surrendered during the amnesty period.
Read the full story on ProtectionWeb here.
