Badly trained officers and massive licensing backlogs formed part of a litany of complaints over the new gun laws that were levelled at officials appearing before a parliamentary committee on Wednesday.

The head of the Central Firearms Registry, Director Jaco Bothma, said "masses" of applications were rolling in to the Firearms Registry.

Bothma said the police were not unduly concerned about the delays.

Of the 20 397 applications for competency certificates received since January, 3 937 had been finalised.

More than 4 200 applications had been received for firearm licences, 813 of which had been processed.

• This article was originally published on page 2 of The Mercury on September 15, 2005