Gun Free Zones

Make your school gun-free and peaceful
Some schools in South Africa have been very successful at making their school gun-free by establishing Gun Free Zones. The best way to get this done is to contact Gun Free South Africa. Tell them that you want them to help you make your school gun-free. Gun Free South Africa will contact your school to arrange things.

Gun Free Zones and Words over Weapons work together to first make a school gun-free and then work on peacemaking skills with all the students. In this combined approach the whole school is involved with policy-making schoolwide, the learners safety team and all the students on a personal level.




















There is a difference between a gun-free zone and a fire-arm free zone. A fire-arm free zone is legally binding, so police can enforce them. A gun-free zone is voluntary. If you bring a gun to a fire-arm free zone, you can be put in jail. If you bring a gun to a gun-free zone, you can be expelled from school. These are the steps to making a school a gun-free zone: Download the leaflet here

1. First Step; Talk Stage where we speak to Principal, School
Governing Body (SGB), Learners Representative Councils; Educators
Organizations, Community structures like Community Policing Forum
and the Police (South African Police Service).

2. Developing a Policy; here you use the FFZ-Guidelines which is the
Discussion Sheet 3 for Safety team and if there is no Safety Team
you start a working Group and after you elect the Safety Team from
that Working Group.

3. Adopt A Policy; here the Safety Team and the school including the
community the Put the Gun Free Zone Sign, you can organize an
event for the day.

4. Monitoring the Policy; here the Safety Team can keep records of
incidents that are happening in school.

5. Implementation of the Policy; have Assembly twice a year and remind
the school about the Gun Free Zone Policy.