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Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace. 2004 ‘Firearm Ownership - Zimbabwe.’ Hide and Seek: Taking Account of Small Arms in Southern Africa, pp. 311-12. Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies. 1 October

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Prior to Zimbabwe's independence in 1980 many white and coloured (mixed race) people owned guns for personal protection during the liberation struggle, as well as for protection of businesses and for sporting purposes.

The end of the liberation struggle in 1980 left many firearms unaccounted for. After the first democratic elections, firearm owners were offered a three-month amnesty period to surrender their weapons…

From the 1990s there was an increase in the number of black Zimbabweans who sought to own legal firearms for self-protection and sporting activities like hunting and sports shooting.

It was impossible for researchers to gain access to recent statistics relating to civilian ownership of firearms. However, interviews were conducted with police officers in charge of the central police stations in Bulawayo, Gweru, Harare and Mutare, the four major towns in Zimbabwe, which indicated an increase since 1998 in the number of civilians carrying licenced guns. These were anecdotal discussions, without records or statistics being made available to the interviewer…

A Saferworld report puts the estimated number of civilian-owned small arms in Zimbabwe at 400,000, and notes that there are 125 registered firearm dealers in the country, this means Zimbabwe has the second highest number of firearm dealers in the region, with South Africa having the largest firearm retailing sector.(44)

Source:

44) Cross, P. et al., Law of the Gun: An audit of firearms control legislation in the SADC region, SaferAfrica and Saferworld, June 2003, p54.

ID: Q8829

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