The Private Member’s Bill of the leader of the FF Plus, Dr Pieter Groenewald, that proposes certain amendments to the existing Firearms Control Act, which regulates the renewal of firearm licences, was published in the Government Gazette yesterday (31 August 2018).
The Bill was introduced to offer solutions after the controversy and uncertainty created by the Constitutional Court’s ruling about two months ago on the validity of the renewal of firearm licences.
According to Dr Groenewald, there is only one way to solve the problem and that is to amend the Act so that firearm owners have a fair chance to renew their licences even after their licences have expired without losing ownership of their firearms.
The notice in the Government Gazette reads as follows:
“The Constitutional Court in the matter of Minister of Safety and Security v South African Hunters and Game Conservation Association found that Section 24 of the Firearms Control Act, 2000 (Act No. 60 of 2000) is constitutional. What was, however, not considered by the Court is the fact that the Act does not provide for any method by which the failure to apply for renewal of a licence at least 90 days before the expiry of that licence – which requirement is administrative in nature – can be remedied.
“The Bill seeks to provide an administrative solution where a person failed to timeously apply for renewal of a licence for a firearm. Such failure will attract an administrative fine. The control of firearms is, however, integral to enhance safety and security and to balance this interest, the Bill provides for grace periods in which to apply for renewal.”
Dr Groenewald says that it is unacceptable and unfair that firearm owners will forfeit their firearms due to a simple administrative error that can be rectified by paying a fine and renewing the licences, thus, the aim with the Bill is to address this.
As it stands at present, firearm owners are being discriminated against if they forfeit their property in this way, seeing as in the case of a motor vehicle licence, one simply pays a fine and does not lose ownership of your vehicle.
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