SAGA Opinion piece October 2024

SAGA Press Release – 10 October 2024
Opinion Piece – Knives NOT Guns!
by Shaun Lyle, SAGA Trustee
Facts Point to Knives NOT Guns, as the Criminals Weapon of Choice

  1. Gun-Free Lobby Misses the Mark Again
    The latest 2024 Crime Statistics unfortunately paint yet another bleak picture. The only upside, however, is that Gun Free South Africa (GFSA) will have to seriously consider changing their name and political agenda to Knife Free South Africa (KFSA) as the statistics revealed that the criminals’ weapon of choice in Robbery, Assault and Sexual offences is the knife or panga! A far more widely used and intimate weapon than the firearm, as you need to be up close and personal to use or threaten with it.
  2. Facts Trump Assumption and Challenge Ideology
    Once again the actual FACTS confirm firearms are NOT the problem, rather edged weapons are in fact a bigger issue! This validates SAGA’s and the pro-gun lobby’s long-standing contention – the firearm is NOT the problem.
    These official crime statistics, as concisely analysed and summarised by Ian
    Cameron, present a compelling challenge and counter argument against the GFSA narrative and political agenda:
     In the majority of street robberies, 450 of 1000 (45%) cases involved a knife –
    firearms were used in 420 (42%) out of 1000 incidents.
     In the majority of assault cases, 400 of 1000 (40%) involved a knife – a
    firearm was used in only 120 out of 1000 (12%) incidents.
     In nearly a third of reported sexual offences, 450 of 1000 (45%) cases involved a panga, 320 of 1000 (32%) involved a knife and a firearm was used in only 130 of 1000 (13%) incidents. So, what idiotic proposal do we expect next ? A push to licence or ban knives? Then what, to eat liquidized food fed through a straw?
  3. Knives in the United Kingdom
    The UK is tough on knives, it is illegal to use any knife or weapon in a threatening way. It is also illegal to carry most knives or any weapons in public without a ‘good reason’. There are serious restrictions on blade length and types that can be owned, yet how is that working for them? Knife crime is rampant with a scourge of panga/machete cases emerging on the streets of UK cities. There has been a 78% increase in police-recorded offences involving a knife or sharp instrument in the last 10 years to March 2024.

    The common-sense (not that common sense is that common anymore) counter
    argument is: if the law-abiding ‘subject’ in the UK had access to self-defence
    firearms, knife crime would be significantly reduced. The lack of any substance to self-defence rights, or a means to defend yourself, is akin to leading sheep to
    slaughter – media reports bear this out again and again.
  4. Conclusion
    Reject the ongoing GUN FREE (Knife Free) nonsense! A firearm is a tool, and the underlying issue is not the firearm, knife, nor any legislation controlling them, rather it is a societal problem. A problem that is guaranteed to worsen significantly if the delusion of gun-free ideology takes hold.

    As disciplined and law-abiding citizens, let us stand together and push back hard against this irrational disarming agenda.

    Shaun Lyle
    SAGA Trustee
    saga@saga.org.za – www.saga.org.za
    Tel 031-562-9951
    PO Box 35203 Northway 4065