The FPC is now nearly three years old, and while there have been slow developments behind the scenes, very little is visible on the outside. Jonathan provides an update on the state of the FPC and the broader health of the civil-political firearm environment, and where the FPC’s future lies.
The FPC has been hammering at the back of my mind for a while now, as in it needs to start moving and creating some momentum. We have been patiently waiting on SARS to sort out our PBO status, and it is an absolute farce (we made a post about this if you are interested). Long story short for the purposes of this article, we need to start building momentum while that is sorted out in the background.
Government attitudes, the firearm topic, and the firearm community
The recent PSIRA proposals have shown what Martin Hood seemed to realise back in 2018 (he may even be the first big name to articulate it): even if the ANC is not hostile to firearm owners, they are terrified the firearm topic and will do anything to avoid touching it. By abdicating to lead their bureaucracies, they have created a power vacuum in agencies such as the CSP and PSIRA, and these vacuums have now been filled by incompetent and ideologically driven officials. Unfortunately, ANC officials have blindly trusted them and will seemingly sign ANYTHING brought to them. How else do we explain that Mchunu sincerely believes that handcuffs need to be regulated by PSIRA, or that security companies need to apply two weeks in advance to use shotguns with rubber bullets to stop a land invasion or a riot that started five minutes ago? This of course would also extend to Cele and the 2018/2021 amendment proposals as well, which is when Hood made that comment about political leadership abdicating the duty to lead their agencies.
While the SAPS, PSIRA, and the CSP, do their own thing, the police minister of the day just blindly trusts them. I doubt Cele had a personal or ideological animus towards firearm owners; he was just clueless and it showed in his speeches: he was repeating what his subordinate officials told him while he read from a script. For the most part, government ministers just seem to let their bureaucracies run on auto-pilot and do what they want. This is however not entirely bad news, as it could provide a real opportunity to move forward. It suggests that if enough people get excited about firearm ownership, then politicians would quickly find it ‘cool’ to be our friends.
The PSIRA proposals have also shown another thing we all knew: the other firearm organisations are great at holding the line, but don’t expect them to move the line forward. This is a good thing, because it provides all of us with a rear guard while someone else pushes for change. The FPC was always intended to be more aggressive and lead from the front in this regard.
The FPC needs to actually start leading from said front by building a grassroots network of enthusiastic firearm owners. These would be people that are passionate about firearm ownership and what it represents, and will represent and carry the FPC’s message. I refer specifically to the people most affected by the security vacuum created by the collapse of the SAPS. We saw real potential in in the township and lower income communities as far back as 2016, but nobody acted upon it. The wealthier groups of firearm owners are well catered for already, and many are seriously at risk of becoming elitists who are happy that the FCA discriminates like it does. As long as they can still practice their sports and hobbies, they are not too concerned what happens to anyone else.
My research on the history of South African firearm law
My research on the history of South African firearm law was always going to be vital to defining and informing the FPC’s message and goals. If we understand our past and the reason for why it took the path that it did, we are better positioned to chart a course into the future.
I am happy to say that my research on this is finally at a very advanced stage. I almost certainly know more than anybody else in South Africa about the history of firearm law since we first got it in 1652 (when Meneer van Riebeeck stepped off his boat in the Cape). I have tracked and traced how firearm law developed since the first actual Cape law in 1797 (not just Dutch company rules), to Natal and the Boer republics. The history of firearm law and firearms in South Africa is a lot more colourful (and tragic) than most people know. Of course, skin colour was a big part of why laws formed like they did, and I saw how firearm laws existed in a tension between liberal and conservative Cape politicians. These two groups regularly fought over whether whether black people with firearms could be trusted, and the conservatives unfortunately won that fight by 1876.
I also saw how Natal politicians decided right from the start in 1847 that black people and firearms could not be trusted (exemplified in the Langalibalele Affair of 1873), and how these laws ultimately shaped the law of the post-war Boer republics in 1902. I saw how these post-war Boer laws were the template for the the first centralised Union firearm law in 1937, which was the template for the 1969 apartheid law. I saw how the purpose of firearm laws were perverted from one of reasonable regulation (alongside discrimination), to obsessing over the impossible goal of ‘perfect control’ for every single firearm. I saw how all the worst elements and parts of the history of South African firearm law went straight into the FCA that we live with today. That said, while the FCA is not outright racist, it does discriminate heavily and very unfairly. It is a product of all that came before it.
Learning about our past as I have has shown me that there is serious potential to create a compelling narrative that gets people excited about more than just making holes in paper targets. The Langalibalele Affair is a passionate and tragic story that needs to be told, and South Africa’s history is rich with deeper the meaning of firearm ownership: what it means to be a citizen that is equal, free, independent, and shares an identity with like-minded others. With the correct mindset, firearm ownership is empowering. Understanding that you are your own first responder in an emergency means that you accept the responsibility for your own safety and that of your family. It means that you believe that you can have a say when you or a loved one is under threat. Our potential lies in the power of positive messaging and the idea that each individual CAN do something in an emergency. There is real opportunity to build a culture around firearm ownership in South Africa, and it starts with telling people about why they should be excited about firearm ownership. With enough of a mindset shift by enough people, firearm owners can change South African society for the better.
The FPC leadership has been part of the firearm community for many years by this point, and we have seen real potential come and go. We have seen that momentum can be very organic, rather than forced. The average South African is mostly indifferent and ambivalent about firearms; they do not feel strongly pro or anti. As long as you are not an outright criminal, most people really do not care if you like firearms or not. We don’t know the exact nature of the future, but we do know that all we need to do is to get to work and start somewhere. The results will follow on their own.
If you believe that firearm ownership is about more than just expensive toys in the safe and would like to form part of a volunteer network, please reach out to us, join our Facebook group over at the Firearms Policy Community and like and follow our Firearms Policy Campaign page. We would love to know that you exist. If you are located in a rural area or township, we would love to meet you.
In the mean time, we will try to produce more educational content about the history of firearm regulation in South Africa, and even some memes.
Thank you for reading
#Citizensnotsubjects