On May 27, the Constitutional Court found in favour of not only Fidelity Security Services but all South African gun owners who failed to renew their firearm licences before their expiry date.
According to a statement by Armand Greyling, Legal and Risk Officer at AfriForum, “The court determined that those who were unable to renew their firearm licences in time and were subsequently barred from further obtaining a valid licence, are allowed to follow the processes as stipulated in the Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000 (FCA) to obtain a valid firearm licence for such firearms”.
General manager of EPR Security and lawyer, Johan Krog, explained to the News what the judgment means in laymen’s terms.
In short the Constitution Court on appeal had to decide whether or not the current Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000 prohibited a new application for a licence in cases where the previous licence lapsed. Section 24 of the act, that deals with the renewal of firearm licences, stipulates that the holder of a licence who wishes to renew the licence must at least 90 days before the date of expiry of the licence apply to the Registrar for its renewal.
“The Constitutional Court ruled that the act only regulates the possession of a firearm and not the ownership thereof. This means that a gun owner cannot be deprived of his ownership by the act and a gun owner cannot be forced to destroy his firearm if the licence expired or lapsed,” clarified Krog.
“This however means that although you are the owner of a firearm of which the licence has expired or lapsed, you are in unlawful possession of the firearm if it does not have a valid licence. The court further ruled that a person who has a firearm with an expired licence may surrender the firearm to the police for safekeeping, and that person may apply for a new licence for that firearm. It must be noted that it is not a renewal application but a totally new application. The Constitutional Court however made it clear in its ruling that such a new application will be assessed differently to a normal licence application,” he said.
Krog concluded by saying that, “It is therefore important that gun owners with expired licences applying for a new licence will need to give a full, factual and legal explanation as to the reasons that gave rise to the lapsing of the licence. Prior to this ruling a gun owner with an expired licence was expected to hand in the firearm at the police for destruction and could not apply for a new licence.”
