'Guns kill loved ones'

"When there is a gun in the household, the gun is more likely to kill someone in the household - such as a partner or child - rather than an intruder," says Dr James Gilligan, an American clinical psychiatrist who has spent almost half a century studying violence

Speaking yesterday before he addressed a gathering at the University of Pretoria's Gordon School of Business Science, Gilligan said studies had shown that higher rates of gun ownership equalled gun-related fatalities.

The 78-year-old, who has published extensive research and advised director Martin Scorsese on the film Shutter Island because of his expertise in prisoner psychiatry, said inequality was a major contributing factor to violence.

"Inequality is one of the most powerful predictors of murder rates around the world," Gilligan said, adding that South Africa was in the running for the title of the most unequal country in the world. '' .The experience of being treated as unequal . feeling disrespected or dishonoured . are the most powerful stimuli of violence in the world," said Gilligan.