Pretoria - The draft amendment bill regarding the possession of firearms – which could, among other things, remove self-defence as a valid reason to own a firearm – would be disastrous on many levels, said gun law expert and attorney Martin Hood.
Not only are gun owners up in arms over the revived legislative proposal published over the weekend by the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service, but both the DA and AfriForum said they would fight it.
Gun owners said the proposal must be struck off the new draft Firearms Control Amendment Bill because it would leave people vulnerable against crime.
Hood said the difficulty pro-firearm organisations had was that the Secretariat of Police clearly consulted with anti-gun organisations, but had not treated pro-firearm organisations in the same way.
He said pro-firearm organisations attempted for four years to engage with the SAPS without any meaningful success.
According to Hood, the removal of the right to own a firearm for self-protection, which accounted for approximately 50% of licences, was inappropriate in light of the rising crime rate in South Africa and the declining ability of the SAPS to fulfil its mandate.
Hood said not only did the bill eliminate the right to own a firearm for self-protection, but it imposed such massive restrictions on the security industry that it would not be able to service the SAPS or the people.
Thus, it would not be able to easily obtain new licences, and many would be forced to dispose of firearms already licensed.
“The effect is that the police are proposing removing the private citizen’s right to protect themselves and right to contractually obtain private security. Yet there is no alternative proposed as a substitute for this.”
Hood said not only would it result to job losses in the private security industry and leave people defenceless, but it would lead to the training industry having to close down as there would be no demand for persons to be trained in the use of firearms.
“This is because approximately 80% of licensed firearms are going to be destroyed over a period of time.”
According to him, the firearm dealing industry will cease to exist because it will not have a market and firearm collectors will suffer a blow as their licences will be terminated. The effects go further than that. The tourism industry will suffer because private game reserves will not be able to possess rifles to protect their clients on game drives or walks, and they will not be able to possess firearms to protect their game from poachers.”
Hood also feared that this legislation was going to result in many firearms being illegally possessed, as some did not comply with unpopular laws.
“The administrative burden created by the new requirements, including additional competency certificates and shorter renewal periods for licences, come at a time when the Central Firearms Registry has been exposed as completely dysfunctional,” Hood said.
AfriForum meanwhile said it appeared that sport shooters and hunters would also come off second best with the proposed amendments.
According to AfriForum, citizens must, within the framework of the law, have the ability to protect themselves and their families against criminals.
The DA added its concerns over the contents of the draft bill, particularly the removal of “self-defence” as a reason to possess a firearm.
“We will be vehemently opposing this and other elements of the bill when it comes to Parliament,” said Andrew Whitfield, the party’s spokesperson on police.
Pretoria News