Co-sign our public submission on the Firearms Control Amendment Bill:
ActionSA is opposed to the controversial Firearms Control Amendment Bill’s proposed restriction on owning firearms for the purpose of self-defence. If passed, the Bill will also enforce unreasonable restrictions on sport shooters and game hunters and potentially harm the private security sector, inevitably adversely impacting our ailing economy.
We strongly reject this amendment to gun ownership laws and will oppose this amendment on the following grounds:
The under-resourcing, poor management and politicisation of the SAPS by the ANC has resulted in a police force that cannot protect residents from criminals. Our people have no choice but to defend themselves. This Bill shows that the ANC is out of touch with the realities of everyday South Africans.
Criminals will not have their illegal guns taken away because the Bill targets law-abiding citizens instead of criminals. Criminals will continue to own and use illegal weapons against law-abiding citizens. The amendment to the Act fails to improve public safety.
The proposed repeal of section 13 of the Firearms Control Act means that owning a gun for self-defence will no longer be a valid reason for issuing a firearm licence. In a country where criminal activity and violent crime is of the highest in the world, citizens deserve the right to protect themselves and their families.
The Bill will significantly reduce access to the hobbies of hunting and sports- shooting, without providing due cause. The increased costs of complying with the amendments and the limitations imposed on who qualifies for a licence will restrict leisure shooting to the wealthy.
By government’s admission, the South African Police Service’s Central Firearms Registrar (CFR) is failing to ensure responsible gun ownership by not properly checking gun license applications and not properly issuing licences. The CFR needs a streamlined application process and modernised monitoring mechanisms, not more red tape.
Under this Bill, the Minister of Police, who is typically a politically-appointed civilian, will have the discretion to ban any type of ammunition he or she pleases. Not only does a politician not have the technical knowledge to make such decisions, but this level of unchecked authority is untenable.
The proposed reduction of licence validity periods will have a serious impact on the private security industry, which employs thousands of South Africans. We cannot allow our government to pass laws that will damage our economy.
The SEIA uses unsubstantiated claims, questionable data and draws dubious links between legal gun ownership and crime. In effect, the SEIA does not prove the causal link between the recommendations of this Bill and making South Africa safer.
To build a safer South Africa, the Department of Police should follow the policy interventions suggested by ActionSA, rather than trying to pass deeply flawed legislation that will only disadvantage law-abiding South Africans:
