“Anybody who possesses a licensed firearm should know when they can use it and when they can’t,” captain Phillemon Khorombi said.
He said that one cannot simply fire a gun whenever they feel.
According to Section 49, of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1.5: In order to ‘‘make perfectly clear’’ what the law regarding this topic is, the Constitutional Court tabulated the main points as follows (paragraph [54] of State v Walters):
‘‘(a) The purpose of arrest is to bring before court for trial persons suspected of having committed offences.
(b) Arrest is not the only means of achieving this purpose, not always the best.
(c) Arrest may never be used to punish.
(d) Where arrest is called for, force may be used only where it is necessary in order to carry out the arrest.
(e) Where force is necessary, only the least degree of force reasonably necessary to carry out the arrest may be used.
(f) In deciding what degree of force is both reasonable and necessary, all the circumstances must be taken into account, including the threat of violence the suspect poses to the arrester or others, and the nature and circumstances of the offence the suspect is suspected of having committed; the force being proportional in all these circumstances.
(g) Shooting a suspect solely in order to carry out an arrest is permitted in very limited circumstances only.
(h) Ordinarily such shooting is not permitted unless the suspect poses a threat of violence to the arrester or others or is suspected on reasonable grounds of having committed a crime involving the infliction or threatened infliction of serious bodily harm and there are no other reasonable means of carrying out the arrest, whether at that time or later.
(i) These limitations in no way detract from the rights of an arrester attempting to carry out an arrest to kill a suspect in self-defence or in defence of any other person.
If a person is robbed with a weapon and they feel threatened, they may use their firearm.
“There are people who use toy guns to commit crime, if the victim is under the impression that the gun is real, they are permitted to use maximum force,” Khorombi said.
Maximum force cannot be used to protect any property but a warning shot is permitted.
“When firing a warning shot, the person must take extra precautionary measures to avoid shooting or injuring someone,” Khorombi said.
If a criminal is running away from a gun owner, no shooting is allowed unless the criminal is running and shooting at the gun owner.
To get a gun license, one should go to a training institute where you will be trained to use a gun.
Once qualified, you will be issued with a certificate.
This certificate is not a license to have a gun, licenses are issued by police.
