Blog – Gangs and gun violence

As we lead into the 2019 National elections, we can expect to see an increase in political assassinations. This piece discusses some key observations from the data collected from the Assassination Witness project.

Several youth from Alexandra township, who work as part of the Alex FM youth reporters network in partnership with Gun Free South Africa and the Children’s Radio Foundation, decided that this year’s youth day commemoration on June 16th would be dedicated to making their community a safer place by organising a peaceful walk to the police station to hand over a petition.

All children are vulnerable to violence, yet wealthy countries lag behind in global efforts to solve it.

Across the world, Gun Free Zones are used as a tool to reduce armed violence and promote public safety in communities. It is time for GFZ to be fully implemented in South Africa to make our communities safer.

Evidence shows that limiting access to firearms (especially for young men between 15-29 years-old) can prevent homicides, suicides and injuries, thereby reducing the costs of these forms of violence. Read more in this article by Gun Free South Africa on gun control.