Most South African gun owners should be disarmed because they are "irresponsible", the chairperson of the national assembly's safety and security committee, Mluleki George, told a committee meeting on Wednesday.
George of the African National Congress was expressing his displeasure with the slow implementation of the Firearms Control Act.
He said he was convinced that "most South Africans who have firearms are not supposed to have firearms".
He said he was not speaking about "drunkards" and the like but about respectable people who were "irresponsible" with their weapons.
Dealers are closing because fewer people are buying guns "I don't know how many men have pointed firearms at their partners," George said, commenting on incidents in his hometown, Zwelitsha.
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He said there were "serious problems" with the implementation of the act and an "element of urgency" about it. Most serious crimes were committed with firearms, whether legal or illegal, he added.
The police are ready to implement the act, he said.
"Is the SAPS ready? The answer right through is a big yes," George said.
The head of the SAPS Central Firearms Register, Director Jaco Botma, told the committee the act, adopted in November 2000, had had an appreciable effect on firearm ownership, including the following:
Applications for firearm licenses had dropped from 248 000 in 1998 to 151 000 in 2001.
Firearms Register hearings - to establish whether a person should be declared unfit to own a firearm - had increased from 551 in 2000 to 572 in 2001, and stood at 453 up to July 31 this year. The figures were expected to rise as designated firearm officers (DFO) received more training.
Registered firearms dealers had dropped from 644 in 2000 to 565 up at July 31, while 24 gunsmiths were no longer registered. Dealers were closing because fewer people were buying guns.
A pilot study for creating Firearm Free Zones is under way at 25 South African schools.
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