By Heinz de Boer
The South African Gun Owners' Association (Saga) is threatening legal action against the SAPS amid threats that thousands of firearm owners could be arrested come July 1.
Saga spokesperson and legal adviser Martin Hood said the association was poised to interdict the SAPS after threats from the head of the Central Firearms Registry (CFR), Director Jaco Bothma, that gun owners who had not applied for relicensing by the final July deadline face arrest and confiscation of their guns.
Of particular concern to Hood are plans by police to prosecute owners who have not applied for renewal after having sold their guns to a third party who had not yet been granted a licence. Gun owners who have applied to have their firearms deactivated before the deadline and have, therefore, not applied for renewal, could also fall foul of the law.
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| 'we are being told people will have their guns taken away and prosecuted' |
Hood said there had been a major breakdown in trust between the police and gun owners.
According to him, the Firearms Control Act stipulates that firearm owners can either relicense, sell, deactivate or hand in their guns to police for destruction before the deadline. Owners could, therefore, not be held responsible for police taking up to two years to issue licences, or a year to authorise firearm deactivation.
"Saga and other associations are taking legal opinion with the intent of interdicting the police from doing anything unlawful. We are certainly looking to vent our frustration at the way firearm owners have been treated by police. We are getting ready to square up to them," Hood said.
"These issues are not new, and now, right at the deadline, we are being told people will have their guns taken away and prosecuted. When we tried to address these issues previously we were ignored," he said.
His concerns have been shared by the KZN Hunting and Conservation Association (KZNHCA), who said it was unfair of police to criminalise gun owners who were complying with the law.
"If I sell a firearm to a man, he applies for a licence and it takes the CFR two years to issue it, why should I be made into a criminal. The perception has always been that the original license is valid until a decision is made on the license application," said KZNHCA chief executive officer Adri Kitshoff.
Concerns have also been raised over regulations that will compel gun owners who have not applied for licence renewal to hand in their guns for storage at police stations by July 1.
Provincial CFR head Senior Superintendent P Govender said all old licences would become invalid from July 1, and firearm owners were expected to apply for relicensing by deadlines. Asked about threats to arrest and prosecute owners that had not applied, but instead sold or applied for deactivation, Govender said he was waiting for a national directive before taking action.
- This article was originally published on page 3 of Daily News on March 27, 2009
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