Prospective black firearm owners, who claim they have been wrongly targeted by the new gun laws, took to the streets of Pretoria over the weekend in protest.
More than 450 members of the Black Gun Owners' Association handed over a memorandum of their grievances at the offices of the minister for safety and security in Pretorius Street on Saturday.
They claim the government is forcing blacks to buy cheaper illegal firearms, as it appears they are being discriminated against the most by the new laws.
A spokesperson for the group, Abios Khoele, claimed that 99 percent of black applicants for firearm licences were refused with no clear reason.
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He said their biggest concern was that gun shop owners were receiving the money, but the potential gun owners were still without any gun as they had no licences.
"Under the old regime a firearm licence cost R2 and now it costs R650 for training, R70 for accreditation and R20 for a proficiency certificate application," he said.
"Plus, one has to consider the cost of a safe and that is a lot of money. Yet many of us are either still waiting for the licence or have just been refused."
Khoele said that there should be an appeal board to which would-be gun owners could appeal against a refusal for a licence.
In its memorandum the association asked that Dir Jaco Bothma be removed from the Central Firearms Registry because of the numerous complaints lodged against him.
"He (Bothma) has been quoted several times as saying that licences would take up to 12 months to be issued, and if a person got a licence under that time he was lucky.
"This long process is calling for people to find devious ways to find licences illegally for self-defence," Khoele said.
"I want to know if families will be entitled to compensation when a person who was refused a gun licence is then killed, because according to Bothma, the police are there to protect us - we apparently do not need guns."
He said many people who wanted to get their firearms legally were slowly getting angry and frustrated.
"Many people might actually opt to get guns illegally. Not to commit crimes, but to defend themselves, their families and property from criminals."
The association demanded a response within four weeks or it would take further mass action.
The minister's spokesperson, Matthew Moonieya, confirmed the receipt of the memorandum on Sunday night.
He said the minister would still have to go through it before deciding on an appropriate response.
- This article was originally published on page 3 of The Mercury on August 23, 2004
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