Gun comments split family of Oscar Pistorius

A remarkably public feud erupted Tuesday within the family of Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee Olympian charged with murdering his girlfriend, as the runner and his relatives distanced themselves from comments his father reportedly made about guns and crime in South Africa. South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress, also waded into the family dispute. A spokesman for the party accused Henke Pistorius the runner's father, of racism for his observations reported in British newspapers about crime against white South Africans and the suggestion that the ANC government isn't adequately protecting them. The Pistorius family and the reputation management firm it has hired are working to head off any negative publicity or controversy that might possibly have a bearing on the outcome of the runner's case, which could see him jailed for life if convicted of premeditated murder. They quickly issued a statement early Tuesday morning saying the family is deeply concerned about the father's interview that  that it doesn't represent the views of Oscar or the rest of the Pistorius family. The Telegraph and Mirror newspapers quoted Henke Pistorius as saying the family owns handguns for self-defense. That is not unusual in South Africa. Two years ago, Police Minister Nkosinathi Emmanuel Mthethwa said the country of 49 million people had 1.7 million registered firearm owners holding 2.9 million guns. Oscar Pistorius had a police license for the 9 mm pistol with which he shot Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine's Day. The gun collectors' club, the Lowveld Firearm Collectors Association, which the runner joined last April said Pistorius also owned but hadn't yet licensed six other firearms for his gun collection. South Africa's Beeld newspaper reported that the runner's father, three uncles and grandfather also own 55 firearms between them ranging from handguns to rifles. Some of the guns are for hunting and some are for protection, the hand guns.

Pistorius representatives name substance found

Oscar Pistorius representatives have named the substance found in his bedroom after the shooting death of his girlfriend as Testis compositum and  Wednesday it is an herbal remedy used in aid of muscle recovery. A product called Testis compositum is also marketed as a sexual enhancer, good for lack of stamina. Some online retailers advertise oral and injectable forms as testosterone boosters and say it can aid sexual performance. During Pistorius' bail hearing that they found needles in Pistorius' bedroom along with the substance, which they initially named as testosterone. Prosecutors later withdrew that statement identifying the substance and it had been sent for laboratory tests and couldn't be named until those tests were completed. Many elite athletes would be wary of using such supplements because they can be laced with banned substances and few would want to risk it. Pistorius was charged with premeditated murder in the Feb. 14 shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. He says he shot her by accident after mistaking her for an intruder in his home. Prosecutors allege he intended to kill her.

 

Pistorius violated basic firearms rules

Oscar Pistorius was aquitted of murder,firearms and legal experts in South Africa believe that, by his own account, the star athlete violated basic gun-handling regulations and exposed himself to a homicide charge by shooting into a closed door without knowing who was behind it. Particularly jarring for firearms instructors and legal experts is that Pistorius testified that he shot at a closed toilet door, fearing but not knowing for certain that a nighttime intruder was on the other side. Instead of an intruder, Pistorius' girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp was in the toilet cubicle. Struck by three of four shots that Pistorius fired from a 9 mm pistol, she died within minutes. Prosecutors charged Pistorius with premeditated murder, saying the shooting followed an argument between the two. Pistorius said it was an accident. South Africa has stringent laws regulating the use of lethal force for self-protection. In order to get a permit to own a firearm, applicants must not only know those rules but must demonstrate proficiency with the weapon and knowledge of its safe handling, making it far tougher to legally own a gun in South Africa than many other countries where a mere background check suffices. The tough standards for legally acquiring a gun were instituted in part because of a wave of weapons purchases after the end of racist white rule in 1994, a former legal director in the South African police. Under South Africa's white-minority apartheid regime, gun owners often learned how to handle firearms during military service. Many of the new gun owners had little or no firearms training, which brought tragic results. Prospective gun owners must now take written exams that include questions on the law, have to show they can safely handle and shoot a gun and are required to hit a target the size of a glossy magazine in 10 of 10 shots from seven meters (23 feet). Oscar grabbed his 9 mm pistol from underneath my bed. On his way to the bathroom, he screamed words to the effect for him/them to get out of my house and for Reeva to phone the police. It was pitch-dark in the bedroom and he thought Reeva was in bed.

Pistorius as mysterious as the shooting tragedy

It was Oscar Pistorius. On Feb. 14, he was flanked by officers as he left a police station. Hours earlier, he would been charged with killing his girlfriend. Prosecutors painted him as a man prone to anger and violence, though he had no prior criminal record. Oscar shot Steenkamp by mistake, thinking she was a nighttime intruder, while prosecutors allege he intentionally shot her after the couple argued. Who is Oscar Pistorius? I thought I had some idea, and in a sense, so did the millions around the world who cheered the double-amputee athlete as a symbol of determination over adversity. Now he is as much of a mystery as whatever happened in his home in the early hours of Valentine's Day. Weeks before his debut at the Olympics, he stopped an interview with me to talk to a little girl who walked up to give him a strawberry from the gardens of the rural hotel at his training base in Gemona, in northern Italy. Now the world knows Pistorius owns a 9 mm Parabellum pistol, licensed for self-defense, and that he applied for licenses to own six more guns listed for his private collection weeks before the shooting death of Steenkamp. His relationships with women have been spread over the gossip pages in South Africa. During his Olympic preparations in Italy, Pistorius pulled out his cellphone to show pictures of his bleeding leg stumps, rubbed raw from the friction of pounding around the track on his blades. It was around the time when people were again questioning whether he should be allowed to run in the 400 meters against able-bodied athletes. It was rare for Pistorius to show images of his amputated limbs, but he grinned and shrugged. It took a long time for him to get used to people filming and taking photographs of him putting on his carbon-fiber blades. He used to ask people not to film him without his prosthetics. When he finished a race at the South African national championships last year, he quickly disappeared to a secluded part of the track to swap his blades for artificial legs, complete with sponsored sneakers that his agent was holding for him. It was his regular post-race routine. It always seemed people wanted more of his time than he could give.