News

12 March 2013: Paul Oxley on a BBC documentary. For those of you who, like me, can't watch documentaries like this, the fun starts just before the 44 minute mark.

22 February 2012: "So when Gun Free SA and others loudly proclaim that the main source for illegal weapons is theft and loss by legal owners one needs to take a very sceptical view -- a detailed analysis on news24.

20 February 2013: Paul Oxley (GOSA) debates Adele Kirsten (GFSA) on Eusebius Mckaiser's show on CapeTalk and 702.

17 February 2013: GOSA quoted in the Metro newspaper, Time Magazine and Global Post.

6 February 2013: Gun Free South Africa wants to audit the Central Firearm Registry. It appears that they think the new Firearms Control Act is not working properly -- "We have no confidence in the registry -- Adele Kisten". Well, surprise, surprise. Gun Owners of South Africa cautioned that the Act can't work, even before it was implemented. Like GFSA, we also want an audit. A full audit. How much has the Firearm Control Act cost to implement, and how well does it meet its stated goals?

Here's the money quote, though: "what this means is that all of us, those who are not armed, are not safe -- Adele Kisten".

5 February 2013: While we cannot condone drinking and driving, a recent court judgement rules that being caught drunk behind the wheel does not automatically disqualify you from having firearms.

30 November 2012: Government Gazette 35928 sets 1 December 2012 as the commencement date for the Prohibition or Restriction of certain Conventional Weapons Act, 2008 (Act No. 18 of 2008).

30 November 2012: JASA lose their case in the Supreme Court of Appeal. Here's the judgement and the media summary.

12 July 2012: They're at it again. An Amendment Bill which (amongst other things) proposes that all firearms in the country be ballistically tested (fired and the bullet and case kept on record) in an eighteen month time frame.

Good luck with that.

But then again, by now it should be clear that chaos is what they want.

19 June 2012: A police task team set up to investigate "blue light" hijacking syndicates with deep roots in the SAPS has been shut down - only days before it was due to make several big raids.

26 April 2012: Someone is making money at taxpayers' expense -- "Sources close to the investigation say that nearly 100 000 bullets for handguns, R-5 semi-automatic assault rifles and shotguns were stolen from a police training facility in Soweto last year.

The theft follows the alleged sale of 88 000 rounds of R-5 ammunition from the Benoni training facility."

18 March 2012: [On Government] Day after day after day, our minds slip out of their control. Our parents, our grandparents, respected government. They believed the propaganda about it being Our Wise Protector. They Obeyed. We increasingly see government for exactly what it is.

-- Claire Wolfe.

16 March 2012: Some CFR contact numbers from GunSite.

1 March 2012: The Firearm Control Regulations were amended by Government Gazette No. 35047 of 17 February 2012. Collectors must use one of the prescribed methods to temporarily deactivate Restricted Firearm (semi-automatic rifles and shotguns) and Prohibited Firearms (machine guns) when storing these.

1. removal of the bolt carrier or bolt and storage of the bolt carrier or bolt in a separate locked part of a safe contemplated in subregulation (1); or
2. removal of the firing pin and insertion of a suitable chamber block to prevent the immediate loading of a cartridge; or
3. fitting of a steel trigger lock and insertion of a suitable chamber block to prevent the immediate loading of a cartridge; or
4. fitting of a suitable lockable chamber and barrel block comprising a length of steel cable or rod not less than 4 millimetre in diameter. which is passed through the barrel and which is welded or crimped to a brass or steel chamber block on one end and a brass or steel bush on the muzzle end which can be locked by a suitable locking device; or
5. any mechanism which serves the same purpose as paragraph (d) and which is approved by the Registrar; or
6. a secure locking device which additionally ensures that no cartridge can be loaded into or discharged from that firearm.

It seems that these Regulations apply only to Collectors, not to Dedicated Sport Shooters or to self-defence firearms.

13 February 2012: Firearms Registry in operational disarray -- DA Press Release.

9 January 2012

You, you who hate guns, you gave me nothing.
No hope.
No tools.
All that was offered me was a life of fear, of resentment, of bitterness, of dependance...
The gun community has offered me hope and strength, and courage.
They have taught me to have belief in myself. -- A Girl and Her Gun.

28 November 2011: From Lieutenant Colonel JM Hansen : There are currently thousands of licence cards at the police stations in the Western Cape that need to be collected.

Can you please request your members to fetch their licence cards at the relevant police stations? The local Designated Firearm Officer at the stations can be contacted.

If you're waiting for a licence (new or renewal), please contact your DFO and ask.

12 October 2011: From Joel comes this

"I began to sense faintly that secrecy is the keystone of all tyranny.
 Not force, but secrecy ... censorship.  When any government - or any
 church, for that matter - undertakes to say to its subjects, "This
 you may not read, this you may not see, this you are forbidden to
 know," the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy
 the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose
 mind has been hoodwinked; Contrariwise, no amount of force can control
 a free man, a man whose mind is free.  No, not the rack, not fission
 bombs, not anything - you can't conquer a free man; the most you can
 do is kill him."
- Robert A. Heinlein, "If This Goes On ---"

5 September 2011: The draft Dangerous Weapons Bill.

30 August 2011: Michael Trapido on the Mukwevho judgement.

13 June 2011: SAPS Media Statement "Engaging through courts will not benefit anybody".

Meanwhile, in the past week a number of people contacted us telling us that their licence application was denied and asking for advice. All of them received a version of the stock set of reasons:

• You failed to provide any substantive and or adequate reasons in order to proof that a need exist to possess the particular firearm and that the need cannot be satisfied by any other means than possessing the said firearm.
• You failed to provide any supplementary documentation in support of your motivation.
• You failed to convince the Registrar that there exist circumstances or reasons that necessitate the possession of the firearm.

Frankly, the legal system is the only method that works, and the CFR is the thing not benefitting anybody.

20 April 2011: The report on the Enquiry into the Functioning of the Central Firearm Registry and the Implementation of Related Aspects of the Firearms Control Act, 2000 makes interesting reading.

19 April 2011: 4 Months... then you should get your gun, according to the linked (IOL) article. In reality, the Pretoria High Court has ruled that SAPS must respond to competency applications in four months. Now to see whether they're planning to obey this court order or not.

15 April 2011: "[...]expecting congress to save money is like expecting crack whores to save crack." -- Larry Correia.

14 April 2011: Dana Snyman hands his father's guns in for destruction.

4 April 2011: The task team who is supposed to be fixing the problems with the Firearms Control Act have decided that amending the Act (again) is the answer. At this stage the draft doesn't seem to fix anything substantial, and turns the Act into even more of a dog's breakfast than before.

18 March 2011:

The Constitutional Court ruled that the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation — known as the Hawks, which replaced the Scorpions — was not independent as required by international law and the constitution.

Does this not also imply that the Firearms Appeal Board should be independent of the Firearms Control Register?

9 March 2011: 82 000 here and 20 429 there and pretty soon you're talking real poor discipline and carelessness.

2 March 2011: GunSite is initiating a Class Action lawsuit to force the Firearm Control Registry to handle applications in a reasonable time. Please download the flyer, print and distribute it widely. Then go to GunSite and pledge some money towards the cause.

1 March 2011: 82 000 SANDF weapons 'missing'.

14 February 2011: Applications are hereby invited from interested persons meeting the qualification requirements for consideration as: 5 Members of the Firearms Appeal Board Pretoria.

7 February 2011: Is your life worth your life?

28 January 2011: On this date in 1838, Piet Retief went to negotiate with a rather untrustworthy fellow called Dingane (or Dingaan) about land. On February 6th, after signing a treaty, Piet Retief and about a hundred others entered South Africa's first gun free zone.

11 January 2011: Make sure you keep your receipt if you hand your gun in. If if goes missing, along with the paperwork, you might end up in deep trouble.

7 January 2011: Although cap and ball (black powder) revolvers are regarded as firearms from 10 January 2011, and would be required to be licenced in terms of the Act, no police action must be taken against any person for the possession of a cap and ball revolver. So says National Commissioner of the SAPS BC Mgwenya.

7 January 2011: Register antique guns, or else…

Confusion reigns, SAPS depends on "goodwill". And what about people who have cap & ball revolvers? Some of them had licences under the Arms & Ammunition Act, those licences were cancelled by SAPS under the FCA 2000... now they have to relicence. But there's no procedure. Can they? Do they want to? Are they going to? Who knows? What a mess.

23 December 2010: You can get a licence in less than two months!

21 December 2010: Neil Jones with Stephen Grootes on CapeTalk / 702: MP3 podcast.

17 December 2010: Amended Regulations: Application for Competency Renewal published in GG 33875.

14 December 2010: Press Release from SAPS Minister Mthethwa regarding renewal of competency.

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