EDITOR – Tuesday saw the Gauteng North High Court declare two sections of the Firearms Control Act unconstitutional. Both sections deal with procedures and regulations that should be in place when surrendering a firearm for which the license has already expired.
The judgement by Judge Ronel Tolmay has been hailed as “groundbreaking”. In short, all firearms issued in terms of the Act, which are due or were due to be renewed, shall be deemed to be valid. This will remain until the Constitutional Court has had the final say on the matter.
Judge Tolmay also gave parliament 18 months to amend the Act in order to make it compliant with the constitution. Tolmay explained that the way things are now, there is a confusion among gun owners as to the proper procedure to follow in terms of renewing their firearms licences.
The ruling comes after an application by the South African Hunters and Game Conservation Association. The group expressed concern at the “chaotic and dysfunctional” system of licensing and administration of firearms. The core problem of the Act as such:
“Where a person wanted to renew a gun licence after it had lapsed, that person is deemed to be in illegal possession of the firearm. It had to be handed into the nearest police station. The owner will not be prosecuted if it is a voluntary surrender. But the problem arose that if the gun owner for some reason delayed in renewing the firearm, there was no proper procedure in place to bring him or her back under the scheme of legality.”
Many “pro-gun” South Africans are celebrating the judgement. The unfortunate predicament that ordinary law abiding tax payers are facing on a daily basis is that the government introduces all sorts of ways and means of deriving more and more cash from cash strapped citizens but fails to create systematic mechanisms of managing the aftermath of these new money making schemes. A similar example may be found with the renewal of drivers licences every five years – someone connected with the ANC made lots of money.
In the case of the gun licence one is required to obtain a new certificate of competency and this costs R995.00 excluding the fee for the renewal application. The state has clearly created rules to control the law breakers (minority) but these rules negatively affect the law abiding who are in the majority.
Sicario
Durban
