Gun Owners of SA to take cops to court over gun licences
They want to stop the police from accepting any firearms for which the licences have expired or demanding that such firearms be handed in.
The organisation Gun Owners of South Africa (Gosa) will take the police to court to put a halt to the demand that about 450 000 firearms with expired licences must immediately be handed in for destruction, saying it put the security of the state and all its citizens in danger.
Gosa will next week apply for an urgent interim interdict in the High Court in Pretoria to stop the SA Police Service from accepting any firearms for which the licences have expired or demanding that such firearms be handed in.
This was pending the outcome of an application aimed at either extending the validity of firearm licences for the lifetime of the owner or to extend the periods for renewals.
In the alternative, the organisation wants the court to force the national police commissioner to provide a detailed security plan to ensure that the firearms with expired licences it collected would be safe from being lost or stolen from the police.
The national police commissioner and police minister gave notice of their intention to oppose the application but have not filed papers.
– ilsedl@citizen.co.za
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