Injudicious. According to the Oxford Dictionary it is defined as “Showing very poor judgement; unwise.” It is the perfect adjective with which to describe Gun-Free South Africa’s latest, and very much recycled, campaign in which they demand the South African Police Service be disarmed of their Vektor R5 carbines.
This isn’t something new: GFSA called for the exact same thing back in January, and used the same inaccurate and emotionally worded arguments in their press-release. I debunked and slated them for it in a previous article “Irrational Campaign to Disarm the SAPS”, and I can safely say that their tactics have not changed.
They still refer to the R5 as a massacre rifle, a ridiculous term that took absolutely zero creativity to cook-up, and they still make the same preposterous claims about the rifle and ammunition as before. Since I have already dealt with the shortcomings of their argument in the previous article, I will rather not burden you with them again.
What they have now done is to create an online petition for the removal of the rifles, right on the anniversary of the Marikana incident in order to capitalise on maximum public emotion. The wording used in the petition is frankly unbelievable; “The R-5 is a massacre rifle. Because its bullets disintegrate on impact, police officers who use them to brutally gun down people in crowd control situations, can’t be held to account as bullets cannot be traced back to them.”
No, I didn’t make that up.
The campaign and its petition were posted by GFSA on Twitter, and has since drawn sharp criticism from numerous quarters.
Sign the campaign to stop police using R-5 massacre rifles which gave police license to kill at #marikana http://t.co/UnfIEh3Afd
— Gun Free SA (@GunFreeSA) August 18, 2015
Join the campaign to stop the R-5 massacre rifles which gave police license to kill at #marikana http://t.co/xjA5M7KBuG via @AmandlaMobi
— Gun Free SA (@GunFreeSA) August 17, 2015
Justice Project South Africa, an organisation with over 33 000 followers on Twitter, was especially unimpressed with the idea.
Congrats @GunFreeSA! You couldn't have picked a better time to show your mala fides than during a #CopKilling spree! https://t.co/1yCXGLz7HV
— Justice Project SA (@JPSAorg) August 18, 2015
The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun @GunFreeSA. Don't ABUSE #Marikana! https://t.co/1yCXGLz7HV
— Justice Project SA (@JPSAorg) August 18, 2015
You simply CAN'T be serious @GunFreeSA! What do you suggest @SAPoliceService takes to armed robberies? Peashooters? https://t.co/1yCXGLz7HV
— Justice Project SA (@JPSAorg) August 18, 2015
As where several others.
@GunFreeSA @AmandlaMobi those same miners killed policemen and security guards with pangas and knives. Why don't we fight to ban unions
— GUNSLINGER (@manharparshotam) August 18, 2015
@GunFreeSA @AmandlaMobi This is probably the dumbest thing I've ever read on the internet. @SAR_K9_Unit @JPSAorg @PigSpotter
— David de Beer (@TyrTraining) August 18, 2015
@GunFreeSA A quick question? What ever happened to the families of the police officers butchered by those "innocent" miners.
— Mark (@MarkSpigg) August 19, 2015
@GunFreeSA @AmandlaMobi What do you suppose the police then use against criminals? Water pistols?! Especially criminals with AK's
— Mark (@MarkSpigg) August 17, 2015
Over 54 police officers have been murdered in 2015 thus far, and in response to this GFSA calls for them to have their R5 rifles removed. While we are in the midst of a “cop killing spree” they expect SAPS officers to face AK47-wielding criminals with nothing more than handguns. If even that. Are these people completely and utterly insane?
Perhaps they are. They are after all the same organisation that have on numerous occasions stated that SAPS officers shouldn’t be armed when off-duty, and that all police service weapons should be left at work. A policeman once told me that a cop doesn’t stop being a cop just because they are off-duty. The policeman who was heinously murdered on the N2 freeway earlier this year while on his way to work attests to that.
One thing has become crystal clear: GFSA hates the police as much as they hate legal firearm owners. They want to prescribe to the SAPS what equipment their members should be allowed to use in the performance of their duties, and when this equipment should be made available. They want to see SAPS officers disarmed the moment they leave work, and do not care one iota for the dangers faced by these officers while off-duty. Your lives mean nothing to them, and they will happily throw all of you under the bus in pursuit of their political goals.
Considering that GFSA and their board members subscribe to armed response, the hypocrisy is nothing short of incredible.
SAPS members: your lives matter. In this difficult and trying time you do not need some irrelevant NGO who knows nothing of policing, and even less about firearms, attempt to prescribe to you how to do your jobs. Please do not leave the matter here, but take it further.
Every legal gun owner in this country has your back. We are fighting the same battle.
Molon Labe.
