As we near the end of the series of articles touching on the historical development of firearm law, we can start to consider the real questions we need to be able to answer. The big and most controversial question of course is ‘is there a right to possess firearms’? While many of us would love […]
Is there a right to possess firearms under South African law? Read More »
The Central Firearm Registry (CFR) has been with South Africa for a long time, certainly for the entirety of most firearm owner lives. Almost all of us therefore just accept it as gospel, without knowing anything about it. ‘It was always here, and therefore always will be’. Virtually nobody truly understands its purpose, nor how
The CFR’s origins and evolution Read More »
The laws imposed on the Boer territories following the Second Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 begin to tie up the development from the colonial era into something of a little package with a bow on top. Ultimately, they come to reflect all the principles of the Natal and Cape laws. Despite co-existing with these other provincial
Firearm law after the Second Anglo Boer War and what it means today Read More »
A war over guns births a nation: The BaSotho War of the Gun
A war over guns births a nation: The BaSotho War of the Gun Read More »
The Langalibalele Affair is perhaps the most illustrative example of how gun control was used to utterly destroy an entire people. While the Cape government was lenient and mostly unworried by black firearm ownership, Natal was very different. The Natal government was inherently distrustful of armed blacks and subjected white colonists to draconian gun control
Gun control destroys a people: The Langalibalele Affair of 1873 Read More »
The Cape Frontier Wars were a series of wars of aggression, depending which way you look at them. They occurred between the Cape colonial government and the Xhosa clans (of which the first few wars involved the Dutch colonial company administration of the Cape). These wars would come to play a pivotal role in shaping
The role of the Cape Frontier Wars in shaping firearm SA regulation Read More »
The Loyal Fingo by Thomas Baines in Thomas Baines: Eastern Cape Sketches, 1848–
1852. Iziko Museums of South Africa, William Fehr Collection (Social History Collections)
South Africa’s Confederation Project and Black Firearm Ownership Read More »
