Gun law may be reloaded to ease licensing bottleneck
Wyndham Hartley
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The controversial Firearms Control Act is almost certain to be amended following broad consultations with gun-owners organisations by Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula. Picture: Simon Mathebula/ST
Parliamentary Editor
CAPE TOWN — The controversial Firearms Control Act is almost certain to be amended following broad consultations with gun-owners organisations by Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula.
In sharp contrast to the South African Police Service’s recent hardline stance on gun licence renewal deadlines, it was learnt on Friday that Nqakula met firearms groups in September and asked them for suggestions on ways to make the new gun law workable.
The Central Firearms Control Register and dedicated firearms officers are mired in administrative backlogs as they try to process thousands of applications for gun licence renewals. Moreover, thousands of legal gun owners face prosecution for failing to reapply for their licences on time.
Submissions by the South African Gun Owners Association (Saga), the South African Arms and Ammunition Dealers’ Association, the South African Practical Shooting Association, the South African Hunters and Game Conservation Association and the National Arms and Ammunition Collectors Confederation of SA all said it was necessary to find a quick and effective solution to the administrative backlog and slow service provided by police.
They all suggested attempts to relicense more than 2,5-million legal firearms be abandoned and replaced by an audit of all legal firearms.
Saga suggested police undertake an audit of existing licences to “confirm and verify the details of such firearms”.
“All existing licences should remain valid until the licence holder disposes of the firearms or becomes incompetent as a licence holder.”
Nqakula’s spokesman Trevor Bloem said the minister had been consulting widely because he was aware the act needed amendment.
A parallel internal review was being conducted.
A security industry body suggested the act be made applicable only to new applications to “free up” scarce police resources
Wyndham Hartley
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-Mail article Print-Friendly
The controversial Firearms Control Act is almost certain to be amended following broad consultations with gun-owners organisations by Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula. Picture: Simon Mathebula/ST
Parliamentary Editor
CAPE TOWN — The controversial Firearms Control Act is almost certain to be amended following broad consultations with gun-owners organisations by Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula.
In sharp contrast to the South African Police Service’s recent hardline stance on gun licence renewal deadlines, it was learnt on Friday that Nqakula met firearms groups in September and asked them for suggestions on ways to make the new gun law workable.
The Central Firearms Control Register and dedicated firearms officers are mired in administrative backlogs as they try to process thousands of applications for gun licence renewals. Moreover, thousands of legal gun owners face prosecution for failing to reapply for their licences on time.
Submissions by the South African Gun Owners Association (Saga), the South African Arms and Ammunition Dealers’ Association, the South African Practical Shooting Association, the South African Hunters and Game Conservation Association and the National Arms and Ammunition Collectors Confederation of SA all said it was necessary to find a quick and effective solution to the administrative backlog and slow service provided by police.
They all suggested attempts to relicense more than 2,5-million legal firearms be abandoned and replaced by an audit of all legal firearms.
Saga suggested police undertake an audit of existing licences to “confirm and verify the details of such firearms”.
“All existing licences should remain valid until the licence holder disposes of the firearms or becomes incompetent as a licence holder.”
Nqakula’s spokesman Trevor Bloem said the minister had been consulting widely because he was aware the act needed amendment.
A parallel internal review was being conducted.
A security industry body suggested the act be made applicable only to new applications to “free up” scarce police resources