Tag: gun licenses

A new version of the draft Firearms Control Act is intent on making it near impossible to purchase or continue to own a firearm for self-defence. Yet, safety and security minister Bheki Cele’s office declined to answer questions about the new act when prompted to by the Jo’burg rag The Citizen. Parliamentary police portfolio committee chairperson Francois Beukman also said he had not received any formal referral with regard to the bill. “The only draft legislation that is before the committee is a Private Members Bill from Mr Pieter Groenewald that proposes certain technical amendments to the Firearms Amendment Bill,” Beukman said. citizen.co.za reports interest groups and gun-owners should await the formal publishing of the draft legislation once finalised by the department and Cabinet. “It is indeed premature and not correct to overreact to a dated internal document without formal status and without approval by the Executive,” Beukman said. But a version of the draft bill has been released by Gun Owners South Africa (Gosa). The document seems to amended after a June Constitutional Court finding, which stated that gun ownership was not a fundamental right under the Bill of Rights. “It is a privilege regulated by law, under the Firearms Control Act,” Justice Johan Froneman wrote at the time. The news draft amendment act seems to have a new section, worded: “An applicant must provide to the satisfaction of the Registrar a valid reason for requiring a firearm licence, failing which a firearm licence may not be issued”. The Citizen says the document goes on to say “self-defence, the protection of another person or the protection of property” does not constitute a valid reason. Paul Oxley of Gosa says this is an infringement on every South African’s right to life. “You will need a medical certificate for applications, which means a breach of the constitutional rights of citizens right to privacy, opening them up to discrimination,” said Oxley. “The major concern we have is the right to life of law-abiding citizens. Crime is escalating at an alarming rate, whereby the criminals perpetrating these crimes are becoming increasingly violent,” Oxley said. “Taking away a means to effectively defend oneself will see to an increase in violent crimes committed against all South Africans. This cannot be allowed to happen.” The Professional Hunters Association of South Africa’s Dries van Coller said there was still speculation around the document, which appeared to be a leaked version. “We are going to verify the authenticity of the document but if it is a true reflection of the intentions then it will affect the whole hunting and firearms fraternity,” Van Coller said. “The limitations are very restrictive and not conducive to doing any type of business, especially for us.” He noted a “conservative” estimate of the value of the hunting industry was about R2.2 billion to the fiscus. “The logic behind this cannot be understood. We will oppose this in the public participation rounds when the bill is made public,” Coller said. Gosa’s media liaison, Tim Flack, said under the new Bill, current gun owners would have to hand in their guns, “which will create a massive administration burden and the risk of firearms being stolen from the police stations”. In October 2017, an article in Paratus wrote that “In the six-year period from 2005 to 2011 the SAPS lost a total of 18 196 firearms, which equals approximately 3 030 firearms per year.” In newer statistics sourced by AfriForum, it is revealed that the SAPS “lost 7 892 firearms between 2009 and 2014, which averages around 1 578 per annum”.

Tag: gun licenses

You can kiss your gun licence goodbye!

11 000 police officers have no gun licenses

Legal gun owners! Listen up!