The high rate of firearm injuries and fatalities to children in South Africa, coupled with the lack of updated research evidence on such injuries and fatalities, prompted the Children's Institute to undertake this study in 2007.
The study aimed to determine the epidemiological profile of firearm-related injuries and deaths among children between January 2001 – December 2006 by collecting health service and mortuary data.Data were gathered from three tertiary hospitals and one secondary hospital in the Cape metropole. This study also explored the Firearms Control Act and its regulations to determine the extent to which children are being protected from guns.
Further reading
Implement firearms control legislation for the sake of our children
Matthews T 2007
Cape Argus, 12 June 2007, p.17
Firearm Control Amendment Bill hearings
Matthews T 2007
In: Child Rights in Focus, issue number 6, March 2007.
From fieldwork to facts to firearms control. Research and advocacy towards firearm control legislation in South Africa: A case study
Shung-King M, Proudlock P & Michelson L August 2005
Children's Institute case study number 1.