01/03/2017
Proposed Amendments to the Fi****ms Control Act Withdrawn (1 Feb 2017).
It has been confirmed that the Minister of Police has withdrawn the proposed amendments (2015) to the Fi****ms Control Act.
In summary, this means that the proposals for the application of microdots to fi****ms, the ballistic fingerprinting of fi****ms, and the limit of only two semi-automatic long guns for dedicated sport shooters and dedicated hunters (except with compelling motivation) are now scrapped.
This is good news for all fi****ms owners in South Africa, because an onerous and practically unworkable situation with very serious repercussions has now been averted.
Unfortunately much needed amendments, such as the one where the late renewal of firearm licences are punished by an administrative fine that must be paid before the documents are processed, have also been scrapped. As such, the matter of expired licences will only be dealt with in the upcoming April court cases.
Despite the late renewal issue on fi****ms not yet being resolved, the fi****ms owners of South Africa have reason to rejoice.
“I personally see this development as a massive victory for South African gun owners. The fact that some sort of common sense has prevailed at government level is a clear indicator at how effective an organised, motivated, and proactive firearm rights movement can be at facilitating change”, Gideon Joubert of GOSA said.
“We can celebrate this victory. We must, however, keep bolstering our strength and organising our structures, because another amendment is sure to follow this one. In fact, an entire revision of the Act may be in store for us. If we do not want the government and anti-gun organisations to saddle us with further unworkable restrictions, we cannot afford to rest on our laurels.”
Dedicated and sensible engagement by stakeholders within the gun-owning community with senior management at the Central Fi****ms Registry and the SAPS certainly appears to be paying dividends in protecting the rights of South Africa’s fi****ms owners. Congratulations to all those who put in the sweat to bring this positive development to fruition.
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