Gun Free Valentine: February 14 – March 8

From February 14 to March 8 (International Women’s Day), we invite you to join our Gun Free Valentine campaign, an initiative launched by IANSA member Gun Free South Africa (GFSA) and supported by IANSA to raise awareness of the risks of having a gun in the home. Having a gun in the home greatly increases the incidence of deaths and life-changing injuries from intimate partner violence (IPV). We are therefore calling for effective laws that can prevent guns falling into the hands of abusive partners and can save lives.

This year marks the 10-year anniversary of the tragic death of Reeva Rebecca Steenkamp, a South African model and paralegal brutally shot dead by her partner on Valentine’s Day. For the campaign, IANSA and GFSA would like to emphasize the importance of ensuring very strict control of civilian-held guns and advocate for measures that ensure that people who have records of domestic violence or abuse are barred from owning or purchasing guns.

In some countries, civilian gun ownership is viewed erroneously as a sign of masculine strength and is used by men and even boys to contribute to notions of hegemonic masculinity. In reality, a gun makes a home much more dangerous. Women and girls are at a higher risk of intimidation, violence, and death in the domestic sphere. This danger is heightened when there is access to a firearm in the home. Given that 85 percent of small arms are estimated to be in civilian hands, neglecting controls on civilian weapons allows for these weapons to make their way into homes.

One of the ways to decrease the number of deadly acts of domestic violence is to proscribe people who have records of domestic violence or abuse and/or are subject to current emergency or final protective orders from having or purchasing weapons. IANSA has published a briefing paper on “Strengthening controls on civilian-held small arms to decrease the human costs of armed violence,” which is available here. This publication provides numerous points of entry for activists and analysts to learn about and help shape their countries’ efforts to address each of the identified policy issues, including one related to domestic and intimate partner violence:

National legislation on firearms should include strict criteria for civilian possession of a gun, have mandatory background checks, and requires automatic suspension or cancellation of a firearms license in instances of domestic or intimate partner violence (including complaints of actual or threatened violence).

During this Gun Free Valentine campaign action, IANSA invites you and all civil society organizations to urge your national and local officials to:

• Strengthen controls on civilian-held guns, such as enforcing extensive background checks that consider an individual’s record of domestic violence when approving or denying gun license applications and renewals.
• Treat acts of domestic violence as serious crimes.
• Protect and ensure access to resources by victims and survivors of armed domestic violence and intimate partner violence.
• Enact and effectively enforce legislation and law enforcement programs to remove illicit guns from civilians.
• Enable fully trained and accountable law enforcement officers to promptly remove licensed guns from homes where an act of domestic violence has taken place.

This dedicated webpage contains resources such as briefing papers on gender-based violence (GBV), controls on civilian-held guns, examples of legislation on gun and domestic violence in five countries, ways to address violent and hegemonic masculinities and additional ways to prevent the proliferation and misuse of small arms. The campaign’s graphics for social media and postcards to mail to your officials are also available.

 Gun Free South Africa:

Women in South Africa are more likely to be killed by their husband or boyfriend than by a stranger, with legal firearms in the home posing a specific risk.

On their website, GFSA has an interactive map of gun-related incidents reported in the media, and states it is “reflecting only a tiny proportion of the gun violence that affects the lives of South Africans daily.” Access the map here.

Let’s work together to take action to make Valentine’s Day and every day free of gun violence and intimate partner violence!