[Article] Court rules gun licenses valid until act tested

[QUINN]

All gun licenses will remain valid until the constitutionality of the Firearms Control Act has been tested.
Tuesday had been set as the deadline for unlicensed gun owners to hand over the guns.
It was found the SAPS did not have capacity to deal with the hundreds of thousands of people who have not applied for gun licenses even if they did bring applications by next week Tuesday.
The court said there was a prima facie case that the Firearms Control Act’s constitutionality may be challenged and said until this matter has been settled, all gun licenses will be deemed valid.
This means although the deadline for renewals expires next week, police will not be able to arrest gun owners as previously threatened

[tec0]

If anything, this is an opportunity to go and get your weapons training. I did and it was fun, informative and above all my understanding towards weapon’s training changed. Training is really important and it gives you confidence and discipline. I will recommend and say if you can, spend the money and do the training.

[Dave A]

The court said there was a prima facie case that the Firearms Control Act’s constitutionality may be challenged and said until this matter has been settled, all gun licenses will be deemed valid.

It would be interesting to see a constitutional court ruling on a "right to bear arms" application.

[totius54]

Re applying for licenses is not the problem , I did so June 2008 , in Jan 2009 I was contacted by SAPS to arrange for the inspection of my gun safe. The SAPS do not have the ability to complete the required process speedily and effective , In May 2009 they contacted me to come in for more finger prints ( South Africa do not have a central data base for finger prints, how retarded can you get) I have been a legal gun owner for 35 years.

[tec0]

The real problem here is not the gun owners. The lot I did my training with knew everything about their weapons and how to use it properly. Even the newbie’s had a good time because our trainer showed them everything they needed to know and how to use it responsibly. If anything I feel that existing gun owners only need to do a training course and just hand it in and have their weapons renewed. I will not have a problem with this at all. But to tell a person to get rid of something they value just because “some individuals where careless” is just a load of BS.

I also agree with law that a gun must be locked in a safe that is secured. For any gun owner a safe is just a natural place to store guns this goes without saying so if anything I have no problem with the inspections because you will get some individuals that just put the thing in a sock-drawer!

[wynn]

Any male over 33 was probably in the defence force and was trained in the use of firearms, if the Gubmunt are to be believed so were the 'Veterans'

So training should be only for people under 33 or those not previously in the defence/veteran forces.

I don't see a problem with the whole re-registration thing because they are probably so out of date with the old licence system they cannot work out who owns what and who should not own a firearm.

The training given and questionnaire was so half arsed, open book closed book etc. and only touched on the actual use and is more an exercise to teach an ignoramus what responsible ownership is.

My main gripe is why it took so long for my competency and licence cards to come through the system (Almost a year)
My son who has applied as a new prospective owner has been waiting for 14 months for his competency card before he can even purchase a hunting rifle, how much longer will the licence take?

[AmithS]

The problem i see now is that many of us handed in our firearms to dealers for safe keeping while we re-apply for new licenses, because SAPS refused to consider our applications as late applications unless you where in hospital or out of the country.

Now we have paid close to R1000 just for the dealer to hold our firearms so that we may reapply for the license because we could not renew or face being on the wrong side of the law.

Now they say our licenses are valid!!! Lots of money being wasted by many individuals and many gun dealers making lots of money.

Wonder if there will be recourse on the money lost!!!!

[solweb]

I agree that to be a responsible gun owner you need to store it in a safe, keep it oiled and know how to use it. You also need to be mentally fit to own a gun.

I do not mind renewing my license every so often, same as we do with our drivers license, just don't make it impossible for responsible South Africans to protect them selves.

[Marq]

I don't know about a renewal story - these guys do not know how to make it easy - both on themselves and on us - the backlogs are so huge, they will never catch up. Shaiks card company is the only winner here.

I think a 6 monthly trip to a registered shooting range should be completed and an accredited official type signs off against a national db that you are still proficient - something like that to say you are still alive, still own the gun, it works ok and you are able to hold it and shoot it. This killing a tree application, certification and aggravation doesnt prove a thing.

I received a call recently from some bored guy, validating information for a friends application made over two years ago - so I guess they are up to date there. By time I receive my 'current' licence via the form filing exercise completed earlier this year, it may be time to do my renewal.

[tec0]

I will agree to that. Yes with all the known technology to human kind it is still down to paperwork.

A simple computer database would do nicely. You sit down for 5 minutes the operator ask you 10 questions. And you hand in your competency certificate and they print you a nice new plastic licence all done without killing a rainforest. Digital fingerprint scanning is possible as is a digital database linked to a mainframe.