Sword and Gun Day

The tragedy of what happened to Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius’s girlfriend in Pretoria today (we of course don’t know the full details) is all too familiar to people who live in countries where gun ownership is the norm. There is a heightened expectation of murderous violence due to the insanely quick escalation levels. People are literally cavalier about their right to defend themselves. However, I can understand this from a personal point of view and I think most people would. If you were scared or were trying to protect a loved one from an unknown threat of menace you would lash out with the most powerful weapon you had before they struck at you. I certainly would. The issue is that we aren’t a nation of individuals, we live in diverse populaces where people all think differently and react differently to events that can transpire. We live in societies and we can only govern as societies, and not a bunch of individuals.

“Guns don’t kill people, people do!”

Well actually, technically speaking, the bullets do most of the killing and maiming. Maybe if we can’t control guns (I don’t really know about South Africa but I understand the high levels of gun ownership is mainly due to the appalling amounts of crime and specifically burglaries that take place) maybe we should endeavour to control ammunition? I fully and realistically concede that you will never be able to take away the hoards of guns that people fetishistically collect. But you could certainly regulate ammunition and only in the manner how prescription medicines or even cigarettes are sold would place some welcome sort of restriction and control. But even this half-hearted attempt at restriction would not have prevented poor Oscar Pistorius’s girlfriend and indeed the anguish that Oscar himself must be feeling. I feel for him, as no punishment the authorities burden him with (if any) will be able to make him feel as bad as he must currently feel.