Gun Free South Africa is up in arms over newspaper advertisements for guns.
|||Gun Free South Africa is up in arms over newspaper advertisements for guns, including rifles which come complete with a payment plan, and is considering taking its complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority.
Not only did the adverts appear in an Afrikaans weekend newspaper last Saturday, but they are also plastered in shop windows in Hout Street in the city centre, at the premises of the gunshop City Guns, and the indoor shooting range Guns4Africa.
Gun Free South Africa has also complained about the advertisements to the police.
Organisation spokeswoman Pam Crowsley called the advert “highly irresponsible”.
The advert showcases a range of guns, including an AK47 under the tag “red die renoster” (save the rhino), a pink 9mm Glock pistol under the tag “femme fatale”, and a .22 laser pistol under the tag “kinders red die wêreld” (children save the world).
Crowsley said the overall message was that “guns are fun”. “This is extremely dangerous… especially in South Africa where 18 people are shot and killed every day. There is no promotion of safe and responsible gun ownership anywhere in the advertisement, which is the founding principle of gun ownership as outlined in South Africa’s Firearms Control Act,” she added.
Crowsley also took issue with the section of the advert directed at children.
“It calls on kids to ‘save the world’. Since 2011 there has been a countrywide spike in gun violence, particularly in the Western Cape, and for a gun shop in the province to promote guns to kids as a way to save the world is ludicrous.
“It glamourises firearms to women accentuating the ‘pink’ colour as if they are a fashion accessory instead of a deadly weapon. It also promotes AK47s, which are illegal for civilians to purchase without special permission,” she said.
Mandi Jarman, spokeswoman for the Gun Fun Indoor Shooting Range, said the newspaper advert was for the shooting range, and that the guns were not for sale.
Other large advertisements for guns for sale are however pasted up in large on-street windows at the premises in Hout Street.
Gerhard Dreyer, manager of Gun Fun, reiterated that their advert did not promote selling or gun ownership, but “merely the use and training thereof”.
They were proud, he said, to offer training and an experience that empowered women and created “a safer environment by teaching those who already own firearms the safe use thereof”. They also believed that teaching gun safety to children was “imperative and will save lives”.
Jarman said anyone wanting to buy a gun had to undergo proficiency and police competency tests.
“You can buy your firearm at any time, but the police will not accept or grant you a licence until you have been found ‘fit and proper’, and have been awarded competency for that type of firearm you have purchased,” she said.
Dreyer said the range was opened after sport shooting was identified as a firm favourite pastime around the world. It offered a facility for the sports shooter, security and anti-poaching training industry, and for civilian gun owners to familiarise themselves with firearms.
“This is not a unique concept and has been practised throughout South Africa and internationally for many years.”
He added that the entertainment industry had for years flashed images of firearms on the big screen.
Their range allowed “guests to experience these without having to purchase their own guns”.
With their “ladies package”, they encouraged women to learn to handle firearms in a controlled environment, to “remove the element of ‘fear’ from their interaction with firearms”.
They also spent time with children at the range, teaching them responsibly to handle guns and “
remove the idea that a gun is a toy”.
“The children’s package has been well received by parents who own guns and want to make sure that their children are responsibly introduced to firearms,” Dreyer said.
Leon Grobler, manager for the dispute resolution unit of the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa, said as the advertising authority’s code made no reference to advertising for guns or shooting ranges, they didn’t have an issue with such advertisements.
They would only investigate adverts that breached the code, “for example, condoning illegal or violent behaviour, or (if) the prices were wrong”.
- Saturday Argus
sibongakonke.mama@inl.co.za