Hunters association withdraws 2020 Firearms Amnesty legal challenge

Gun Free SA has welcomed the decision by the National Hunting and Shooting Association (NHSA) to withdraw an urgent legal challenge lodged on December 11 last year.

The challenge sought to force minister of police, Bheki Cele, to halt the 2020 Firearms Amnesty.

The challenge has been embargoed until 10:30am on Tuesday, when it will be formally withdrawn in the North Gauteng High Court.

The six-month amnesty, being instilled for the fourth time in South Africa, began on December 1 2019, and ends on May 31.

Cele filed papers in response to the NHSA’s affidavit, which asserted that the minister did not follow due process in declaring the amnesty, making it illegal.

In response to this, Cele said the NHSA’s argument was “fatally flawed”, and showed that the process was “valid and effective”, thereby making the amnesty legal.

The affidavit also claimed that the amnesty intrudes on gun owners’ rights whose licences have expired, as they would be required to hand in their firearms while reapplying for a license. The NHSA demanded that an amnesty included provision for gun owners with expired licenses to keep their guns while their licenses are renewed.

Cele informed the NHSA that according to the Firearms Control Act of 2000, when a firearm license expires, it no longer exists, which means it cannot be renewed. The holder instead needs to apply for a new license. In order for the amnesty to grant the NHSA’s request, the law would have to be amended, a power that rests with Parliament, not the minister.

And the only way that indemnity can be given under the existing law is if a gun is surrendered to police.

Cele added that the amnesty infers rights to gun owners, and that it is voluntary, and in fact confers additional rights to gun owners in that they can obtain indemnity from prosecution for being in possession of an illegal firearm.

SAPS spokesperson Vishnu Naidoo said that the weapons are being stored in nine centralised storage facilities, one in each province, and are handled by SAPS officials and amnesty officials who are selected after a thorough screening and vetting process.

In the past three amnesties, in 1994, 2005 and 2010, over 120,000 firearms and 1.8 million rounds of ammunition were recovered. Over one-third of the guns and ammunition recovered in 2005 and 2010 were illegally held.

Gun Free South Africa’s director, Adèle Kirsten, said that the largest source of illegal guns in the country are from civilians whose guns are lost and stolen.

During 2018/2019, 9,609 firearms were reported as lost or stolen nationally, of which 607 were owned by SAPS. The remaining firearms were lost by or stolen from civilians.

(Compiled by Nica Schreuder)

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