Wessels says licensed firearm owners are not the problem; criminals with illegal firearms were.
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You are 100 times more likely to be shot and killed by an illegal firearm than by a gun which is properly licensed, official statistics show. Authorities were fighting a losing battle against illegal firearms, with shocking statistics revealing that more than 28 people were killed in South Africa daily.
Wouter Wessels, Freedom Front Plus (FF+) MP, national chair and chief police spokesperson, said parliamentary replies to questions from the FF+ regarding murders committed with legally licensed firearms versus illegal firearms over the past four years revealed that 41 297 murders were committed with illegal, unlicensed firearms in the past four financial years, from 2022-23 to 2025-26.
“That is more than 28 murders per day,” he said.
Wessels said the statistics provided by the Acting Minister of Police, Firoz Cachalia, clearly show South Africa’s firearm crime problem stems from unlicensed firearms in the hands of criminals, as 99% of murders were committed with illegal firearms.
“In contrast, only 393 people were killed with licensed firearms in the same period,” he said.
“Many of these likely occurred in self-defence, which means the actual number of unlawful murders committed with legal weapons is even lower.
“Over the same period, 38, 40, 24 and 40 people, respectively, were murdered with firearms that had previously belonged to the police.”
‘Owners not the problem’
Wessels said licensed firearm owners are not the problem; criminals with illegal firearms were.
AfriForum’s community safety spokesperson Jacques Broodryk said the murder statistics confirm the government’s motives for stricter firearm control are ideologically driven.
“Cachalia stated that 9 398 people were murdered with firearms during the 2025-26 financial year,” he said.
“Only 75 of these murders – or 0.8% were committed by the legal owner of a lawfully licensed firearm, whereas illegal firearms were used in 9 323 (or 99.2%) of all firearm-related murders during the same period.”
Despite this fact, legal firearm owners continue to be targeted through stricter legislation. Broodryk said the figures provided by Cachalia confirm that firearms originally belonging to the South African Police Service (Saps), the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and the metro police were used in 46 murders during the 2025-26 financial year.
“For the past 18 months, AfriForum has been warning that the government’s proposed amendments to the Firearms Control Act are aimed at disarming legal firearm owners and, in doing so, ignore the actual causes of firearm violence,” he said.
Broodryk said disarming responsible citizens will not disarm criminals.
“It will merely leave law-abiding citizens more vulnerable,” adds Broodryk.
Gun trend ‘difficult to ignore’
South African Gun Association (Saga) chair Damian Enslin said the four-year trend was difficult to ignore.
“Licensed firearm owners must comply with the law, and Saga has consistently urged them to do so.
“Criminals, by definition, do not,” Enslin said.
SANDF spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Mpho Mathebula said SANDF and Saps continue to achieve breakthroughs in the fight against illegal mining, organised crime, and gang violence through Operation Prosper, which resulted in the arrest of 717 suspects for various offences, as well as the seizure of 24 illegal firearms and 1 928 rounds of ammunition so far.
Mathebula said these operations yielded multiple arrests, including one for murder, 15 for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, eight for illegal possession of ammunition, six for illegal possession of firearms and 265 for contravention of the Immigration Act.
