Posted
3/17/2005 05:25:00 PM
by Douglas
When crossbows are outlawed, only outlaws will have
crossbows.Tighter gun ownership laws are pushing South Africans to buy crossbows, spears, swords, knives and pepper sprays to protect themselves from violent crime.
"We've had to build an entirely new shop because the demand from people is so great," Justin Willmers, owner of Durban Guns and Ammo, told Reuters. "It can be anything from a Zulu fighting spear, battle axes, swords, crossbows."
New gun controls came into force last year under South Africa's Firearms Control Act, but some weapons shop owners say high crime rates are pushing law abiding citizens to look for alternative means of defending themselves.
Imagine that?!? People want to use weapons to protect themselves. I'm sure this is a unique and totally new approach to modern problem. But what about the people they seek protection
from? Surely they don't have guns, do they? They're illegal, right?
Estimates of the number of illegal firearms in South Africa vary between 1 and 4 million, he said, but the real problem is from some 30-40,000 hardcore criminals using a small number of illegal guns.
1-4 million illegal firearms, and they
aren't used in crimes? Then what the hell else do they need them for? You can't un-ring the bell, and you can't take the guns away from the bad guys. . . only the good guys. So why bother? The resurgence of Medieval weaponry only makes a gun ban that much more absurd.