No, Crime drops where you have a sence of Pride in your country, patriotism and confidence in the Justice/Legal and social systems. A Civil society and one that is capable of reason. the problem in SA is that no-one actually cares anymore.
I can quote you US government statistics on violent crime dropping in states where concealed carry was allowed...
For the rest I agree with you, and our views in that area aren't neccessarily incompatible. However, if the government allows people to defend themselves rather than trying to disarm it's citizens, people will feel a lot less like subjects and a lot more like freemen.
When our leaders show that they trust us we can show them how proud we are of our country. I love south africa and it's people. My government, though, doesn't seem to care about me.