South Africa has been a country of many changes over the past seven years. Among those changes has been the introduction of nationwide citizen disarmament laws. South Africa has become a Sarah Brady Paradise, with licensing and registration of those guns the bureaucrats MAY (or may not) allow its subjects to keep after convincing the masters that "self-defence requirements ... cannot be met by any other means." Along with these mandates are a host of other firearm control, as opposed to crime control, laws that Maluleke George, chairman of the Portfolio Committee on Safety and Security, admitted "[have] nothing to do with criminals. It is a waste of time to make laws to stop criminals. The purpose of this bill is to make it as difficult as possible for people to own licensed firearms and to reduce the number of firearms already licensed."

It is a waste of time to make laws to stop criminals, but not a waste to control law-abiding citizens' access to defensive tools? This is the official position of the government's Safety and Security Committee! Extrapolate and make the generality specific, and what Mr. George has said is "it is a waste of time to make laws to stop [rapists]. The purpose of this bill is to make it as difficult as possible for [potential rape victims] to own licensed firearms " And, true to Mr. George's revelation, what the new law mandates, according to an analysis by the New National Party, is:

"No firearm may be used for self-defence unless licenced for that purpose (s16, s17, s18, and s19). If under personal attack whilst only in possession of a firearm licenced for a non-defensive purpose, the individual would, in fact, be committing an offence by using it to defend him/herself;"

It is no wonder that crime in "the beloved country" is out of control. Still, there are groups that arise whenever there is an issue or a need, and "Speak Out!" http://www.speakout.org.za/ is an organization that has risen to prominence as a women's resource when it comes to rape, its prevention, and actions to take in its aftermath.

But a visit to their site is perplexing, troubling: there is advice on how to protest to politicians about medical care; how to prompt your children to testify; how to pick your men more wisely; how to submit to rape; how to deal with HIV; how not to give the rapist the pleasure of fighting him; how to report a rape after it happens... but NOTHING about how to keep the rape from happening in the first place by assuming personal responsibility for self defense, by having the ability, the training and the MEANS to repel a monster who could otherwise easily overpower his intended victim. The operative instructions from Speak Out! seem to be: You have no choice but to be a victim. Should you survive, here are handy tips on how to complain after the fact, and deal with whatever injuries or diseases result. And because you do not stop your rapist, he learns that he is free to do so with impunity, is free to rape again.

In short, there is nothing on the Speak Out! site about the most effective means of rape deterrence, armed defense, with guns.

Perhaps they just don't know that their advice is wrong-headed, and practically guarantees more attacks and rapes and murders of South African women? Perhaps, if provided with some facts, they would be curious, wish to learn more, and find new alternatives and techniques that they could share with South African women to improve their safety and security? I wanted to find out, and sent the following to Speak Out!:

From: David Codrea
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: Don't You Think Women Have a Right to Self-Defense?
Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 08:47:30 -0700

Dear Speak Out!,

In re your website:

According to CBS News, a woman is raped in South Africa, on average, every 26 seconds.

Don't you think South African women who depend on your site for guidance deserve to be told about their right to self-defense?

Don't you think they deserve being told how rapes decreased by 88% in Orlando, FL, http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa109.html after police began training women in defensive firearms use?

Don't you think they should know about the groundbreaking research conducted by Professor John Lott of Yale University, whose book, More Guns, Less Crime, http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/493636.html irrefutably demonstrates that "[s]tates with the largest increases in gun ownership also have the largest drops in violent crimes" ?

Don't you think they deserve to know about peer reviewed research concluding that "gun-armed victims who resist felons are roughly 50% less likely to be injured http://www.2ndlawlib.org/journals/tennmed.html than those who submit and 67% less likely to be injured than those resisting with some other kind of weapon"?

Don't you think they deserve to know that South African gun control laws only bind law-abiding people, and as these become more restrictive, so do options for self-defense?

You can educate women all you like about police sensitivity and HIV and legal advice and legislative attempts to ensure equality. Would you advise them to speak of such things to an advancing glassy-eyed reptile with a carpet knife? Criminals laugh at such notions. They laugh at women who believe such notions. They laugh even harder the more desperately their defenseless prey begs not to be violated, not to be hurt, not to be killed. What they don't laugh at is armed defense.

Don't you think women who rely on you deserve being told that they are noble beings, and their right to life is inalienable? Don't you think your mothers, sisters and daughters need to be shown that sidearms are effective personal safety tools, as legitimate to own and deploy as a fire extinguisher?

Don't you think that the two rapists who carried out their despicable acts of degradation and violence in the time it has taken you to read this communication (and the third rapist, who is just now getting started) deserved to hear something besides the helpless and terrified pleadings of their victims? Something like "Stop, or I'll shoot!"?

David Codrea

To which I received this response:

----- Original Message -----
From: "Speak Out!" <[email protected]>
To: David Codrea
Sent: Monday, August 13, 2001 12:13 AM
Subject: Re: Don't You Think Women Have a Right to Self-Defense?

I'm sorry but you clearly haven't been raped - your answers to all are NO

I guess I've been dismissed, and without much thought, it appears. I "clearly haven't been raped," so I must not be qualified to ask questions. Much like her (his?) American anti-defense zealot counterparts, this ignorant, closed-minded FOOL obviously will not be troubled with the facts. Much like Sarah Brady, Rosie O'Donnell, the "Million Moms", Dianne Feinstein, et al, this group enables the very monsters they decry, and they do it, apparently either intentionally or out of fanaticism. They are impervious to reason, unwilling to even consider evidence that diverges from that which they CHOOSE to believe or espouse.

Think about it, take their answer "NO," and apply it to each question that I asked, AS DID THE SPEAK OUT! REPRESENTATIVE. The conclusions are inarguable. According to Speak Out!, South African women:

• do NOT deserve self defense guidance and education;
• do NOT deserve to learn how training women in defensive firearms use dramatically reduced rapes;
• should NOT learn about research that demonstrates rapes are reduced when women are armed;
• should NOT be told that resisting a rape with a firearm is safer than obeying the rapist;
• should NOT be informed how gun control laws only affect the law-abiding;
• should NOT be told of their inherent nobility and inalienable right to life;
• should NOT be educated about the efficacy of firearms as defensive tools;
• should NOT be able to do anything except plead desperately for their lives;
• should NOT be able to deter a rapist; and -do NOT have a right to self defense.

It is clear that Speak Out! not only believes women have no right to self defense, but they have no right to information, no right to a choice in the matter of their own safety. The dismissive and snotty ignorance and bigotry (after all, how could a man who hasn't been raped understand?) they employed replying to legitimate questions backed by validated research shows Speak Out! is, and will continue to be, a danger to South African women, and the best friends South Africa's rapists could ever ask for.

One can only marvel at such complete incompetence which produces such thoroughly opposite results from stated goals. It's almost like it's not incompetence at all. It's almost like those authorized to communicate on behalf of Speak Out! are either shills or dupes for a government rooted in Marxist dogma, a government intent on maintaining a monopoly of force. At any cost. Even if it means another woman gets raped every 26 seconds.

Cry, beloved country. Your mothers, your sisters, your daughters have been betrayed.

Letter From A South African Gun Owner

Pregnant woman shoots and kills violent rapist (South Africa, April 19, 2001)

South African Stupidity -- Disarming the citizenry is not the answer.

Illegal Guns: What Can Be Done?

http://www.KeepAndBearArms.com/Codrea