[Here is an interesting story from my crime page. What the poster says about “excessive force” is true. According to the firearm legislation, which I have been studying, you are only allowed to fight back enough until the attacker desists. You are not allowed to continue attacking him.

You *WILL* have a case made out against you if you harm a criminal who attacks you. Whether the case will be successful against you is another matter…

Here is a tip: I discovered on my home insurance policy, that you can get insurance for your home whereby the insurance company will FOOT ALL LEGAL BILLS ARISING FROM YOU DEFENDING YOUR PROPERTY. It only costs a few rand a month – so get it. It could save you quite a few thousand rand.

The Gun Laws are very unreasonable… make no mistake. I was reading through them, and you get a rundown of criminal law, rules about firearms, etc. Its all reasonable and worth knowing… BUT… when it comes to defending your own body and that of someone with you, there are 101 different pit falls. Make a mistake and YOU will go to jail.

Let me tell you this, you may have a weapon, but the chance that you can use it without yourself going to jail… is somewhat slim. But nevertheless, I encourage people to study, get a gun licence, etc… there is much that you learn in the process anyway. Jan]

I was speaking on the phone to a buddy of mine down in Plumstead the other evening. Amongst other things we were talking about the current crime rate in SA, and he told me the following unbelievable story:

A collegue of his, a precious metal courier and 5th dan martial artist was collecting a payload in Cape Town in order to bring it out to goldsmiths in the suburbs when he was attacked by 3 black men. One carrying a gun, and the other two jumped the guy with obvious intent and a vicious fight ensued. He managed to beat off his attackers, only just, and when it was over, the bastard with the gun was dead (broken neck), one of the other “assailants” was badly beaten up, and the third had run away.

When the police had finally finished sorting out the obvious Modus Operandi, it was found that the dead bastard was a wanted 3-time murderer, yet the kung-fu master was later charged with “the use of excessive force” and also ordered to pay the R25,000 in medical costs incurred by the second assailant who had been reduced to a vegetable. This is what’s happening to people who are defending themselves against criminals in SA. Can you believe it??

So if you should get attacked whilst in South Africa, and the chances are better than good that you will, please don’t use more force than is necessary in order to defend yourselves or you may end up footing the medical bills of the killers you put out of action. The next thing that could happen is that if you kill a murderous burglar in your house one night, you may also be made to pay his funeral costs!!!

URL: http://www.straighttalk.co.za/GForm.asp?Form=…/p>