2009/07/18
A GUN owners’ association is adamant that sections of the new Firearms Control Act are unconstitutional .
Addressing a press briefing in Pretoria this week, SA Hunters and Game Conservation Association (Sahgca) chief executive Jan van Niekerk said the association supported the Act, but for a few “small, niggly items”.
“We believe the unconstitutionality of this situation is dispossession of legally owned property,” he said.
At the end of June, the high court in Pretoria granted an interim interdict in favour of Sahgca and against the police minister after it found that gun owners who had not renewed their licences by June 30 would not – pending final adjudication on the constitutionality of the transitional provisions in the Act, expected early next year – be criminalised.
“It is our belief that the SA Police Service (SAPS) could not cope with the masses (of applications). Police did not have the capacity to look after them (the guns) as well as we could ourselves,” Van Niekerk said.
Police had also failed to adequately communicate renewal processes. “Confusion reigned in the market. We believe that SAPS slipped up a bit there,” he said. Police Director Phuti Setati, who also addressed the briefing, said there had been wide communication through the media as well as regular briefings with stakeholders such as Sahgca.
However, he admitted that this needed to be stepped up.
“Definitely we are going to intensify this.” Responding to the suggestion that police did not have the necessary staff, he said this would also be addressed.
Senior Superintendent Alan Govender, from the Central Firearms Registry, said there were about 1000 designated firearms officers nationwide and more would be appointed.
In court, Sahgca contended that Schedule 1 of the Act, which deals with transitional arrangements, was unreasonable, infringed on the rights of firearm owners, and unconstitutional.
It said police were unable to cope with the flood of license applications and firearms being handed in for destruction.
The new Act came into operation in 2004, but was phased in over a five-year period, ending on June30. It compels licensed gun owners to re-apply for their licenses, failing which they must dispose of their firearms, or forfeit them to the State.
The Act also criminalises gun owners who have not applied for the renewal of their licenses.
They can be sentenced to a year’s imprisonment for not applying and a further maximum of 15 years for unlawful possession of a firearm. — Sapa
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