Gun licences that expire due to bureaucracy should not have to be destroyed‚ court hears

26 April 2017 - 18:02 By Sipho Mabena
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South African firearm dealers have successfully challenged a police directive to destroy guns whose licences had expired and were handed in to the police.

The SA Arms and Ammunition Dealers Association‚ Fidelity Security Services and the SA Hunters and Game Conservation Associations are questioning the constitutionality of sections of the Firearms Control Act in a legal challenge before the North Gauteng High Court.

On Wednesday the court heard arguments on behalf of the SA Arms and Ammunition Dealers Association‚ which wants to be allowed to take into their stocks any firearm for which the licence has expired and keep it until the owner has renewed their licence. Firearm dealers are currently not allowed to do this.

A directive issued by police last year said that gun owners whose licences had lapsed were regarded as illegal firearm owners who had to hand these weapons over to the police to be destroyed.

Advocate Jabu Motepe‚ acting for police minister Fikile Mbalula and acting national police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane‚ made an undertaking - which was made an order of the court - that these firearms would no longer be destroyed.

  • Sections of Firearms Control Act irrational and unconstitutional‚ association contendsThe SA Hunters and Game Conservation Association has attacked Sections 24 and 28 of the Firearms Control Act as irrational‚ unworkable‚ arbitrary and unconstitutional.

“We are prepared to grant the undertaking not to destroy the firearms...but it (the undertaking) will be crafted so that it is not too wide because it has to be firearms that relate to this application. For example‚ where a person has voluntarily surrendered (the firearm) and has no intention of applying for a licence then we must be entitled to destroy that firearm‚” he said.

Firearm dealers want Sections 24 and 28 of the Firearms Control Act declared unconstitutional and private security firm‚ Fidelity Security Services is seeking a court order compelling the police to accept late applications for the renewal of firearm licences.

Judge Ronel Tolmay did not rule on the constitutionality of the Act or the application allowing late application of licence renewals.

She postponed the case pending her judgment on a separate application by the SA Hunters and Game Conservation Association (SAHGCA)‚ which also wants Sections 24 and 28 of the Firearms Control Act declared unconstitutional.

Judge Tolmay said this was because her judgment on that matter would have a bearing on the two other matters.

On Tuesday‚ the SA Hunters and Game Conservation Associations argued that the two sections of the act were problematic in that they treated two classes of people differently - those whose firearm licences had expired and those whose licences were cancelled.

This was contrary‚ they argued‚ to the constitutional provision where everyone was equal before the law and enjoyed same protection by the law.

Section 24 of the Act requires that any person who wants to renew a licence must do so 90 days before the expiry date. Section 28 stipulates that if a firearm licence has been cancelled‚ the firearm must be disposed of through a dealer within 60 days or as directed by the registrar or should be forfeited to the state.

The Act deems a licence having expired when the 90-day period lapses. The gun owner is then in possession of the firearm illegally and could face severe penalties of up to 15 years’ imprisonment.

The association also wants the police to be compelled to file a plan of action to reform its “shambolic” Central Firearms Registry.

 

- TMG Digital/TimesLIVE

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