SPEECH BY DIANNE KOHLER BARNARD MP
DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE SPOKESPERSON ON SAFETY AND SECURITY
DEBATE ON FIREARMS CONTROL AMENDMENT BILL
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, CAPE TOWN
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 5, 2006
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY
Among all countries not currently in a state of war, South Africa records the second highest number of gun deaths per year.
The ANC Government response to this situation was to replace the Arms and Ammunition Act (1969) with the Firearms Control Act (2000). Such was the uproar caused that it was only implemented on 1 July 2004 with the stated objectives of ‘regulating the possession, use and trade in firearms’. The truth is that it was finessed through Parliament in a manner not seen since National Party days, with little regard to the Constitution in relation to discrimination or property rights…or indeed to the right or ability of the Police to administer the gun laws, to conduct warrantless searches, or to arbitrarily declare an existing licence to be invalid.
The Act, which introduced strict screening and licensing procedures for all current and potential gun owners, drew widespread criticism from many sectors of society who quite rightly saw it as a draconian piece of legislation aimed at disarming legal gun owners. It achieved little but run up multi-million rand bills, as with a similar experiment conducted unsuccessfully in Canada; it failed to reduce gun deaths; proved to be unworkable; overly complex; and has today put legal gun owners on the verge of being declared criminals.
On the other hand the criminals – not one of whom stood in the endless queues to obtain one of the endless certificates needed before applying for the licence – continued to shoot their way to wealth. Police were pulled off the beat to tackle the enormous paperwork backlog. The criminals with their guns were no longer their focus, but indeed legal gun owners, dealers, collectors and hunters became their prime target
So shoddy and unworkable was the legislation that the Safety and Security Portfolio Committee has had a go at ‘amending it’, but with the best will in the world – it is still un-implementable.
There are several reasons why the Firearms Control Act, in its original form, met then with such heavy criticism…and why the proposed amendments still do.
Firstly, the Act targeted legal firearm owners but did not address the millions of illegal firearms that remain in the hands of criminals. The weapons most commonly used in robberies and cash heists are AK 47s and R4 and R5 assault rifles, none of which ordinary members of the public actually own. It smacks of the absurd. If one can’t catch the criminals, turn law-abiding citizens into criminals, catch them – and boost your conviction rate just in time for the annual Crime Statistics Release Fest.
The Act did what many believe it set out to do - disarm law-abiding citizens. Many were terrified by a threatening radio advertisement campaign and rushed to give Police family heirlooms – for which they received zero compensation. Coupled with the disbandment of the commando system, our rural citizenry have consequently never been as vulnerable to attack by criminals. Dozens of brutal farm killings and assaults over the past few months, many on elderly rural-dwellers, illustrate this dire problem.
The costs of training and licensing made keeping a gun unaffordable for many people, especially pensioners who are one of the most vulnerable groups to attack.
Secondly, the Act in its previous incarnation, and certainly in this one, had and will continue to have, a negative impact on important business activities which contribute significantly to South Africa’s economy. It’s unbelievable that the Minister didn’t bother to carry out an assessment of the possible economic impact of the Act before implementing it. Hundreds of firearm dealers and gunsmiths went bankrupt, and the film industry, professional hunting and private security industries suffered with business closures and job losses experienced across the board. In the tourism and trophy-hunting industry this country is now losing out to Botswana and Zambia as hunters are finding the endless bureaucracy just too irritating to have to deal with.
Finally, the Act gave the SAPS a huge administrative burden which diverted them from the real work of crime prevention. An average of 625 000 individuals were expected to renew 900 000 firearm licences every year between 2005 and 2008. By the end of last year it was clear that not even a fraction of the targeted renewals had been met, largely because the Minister launched this Act before either the SAPS or civil society were ready to deal with its convoluted provisions.
Today such is the administrative burden that thousands of applications are rejected with the flimsiest of excuses – our Olympic shottists were refused licences, women are refused and told that their husbands must protect them, non-hunters refused because they don’t hunt, non-business owners refused because they don’t give details of their businesses, the indeed the excuses given for refusing to renew or grant licences belong in a Monty Python skit.
The Portfolio committee has attempted to speed up the process – although there was no explanation given as to why so many thousands of people are being rejected for licences. Yes we had one member ignoring all evidence to the contrary and informing us that all silencers were used in assassinations and must be banned, but on the whole a huge effort was made to stay away from James Bond plots and attempt to unravel then reknit basically unworkable legislation.
One Police Commissioner actually came before the Portfolio committee and stated that it took six to eight weeks for a gun licence to be processed. Utter rot. There’s a gaping credibility gap between that claim and the presentations by gun owners associations around the country – who state that over a year is the average wait – if it is approved at all.
The Black Gun Owner’s Association says it is preparing to take the Minister to court because its members are being refused licences en masse. They also suggest – quite correctly I think - that this country is merely bowing to UN pressure to totally disarm civilians – with zero acknowledgement of this country’s rampant crime coupled with an ineffective police force.
Valid gun licences will cease to be so on the 30th June 2009. Meanwhile the criminals continue to terrorise us at every turn, our Police force is hamstrung by ineffective management, and once again law-abiding citizens are having draconian legislation foist upon them in order to control yet another facet of their lives.
No – the DA will most certainly not support this legislation.
MEDIA ENQUIRIES:
Dianne Kohler Barnard MP 082 823 7047
Martin Slabbert 082 320 1890
The DA has launched a new website that gives a voice to victims of crime. Visit www.victimsofcrime.org.za to share your story and view other people’s stories. You can also submit questions for the Minister of Safety and Security, which we will submit via parliament. Take a stand. Make your voice heard. Visit the site!
Die DA het 'n nuwe webwerf bekend gestel wat misdaadslagoffers 'n stem gee. Besoek www.victimsofcrime.org.za en stuur vir ons jou verhaal, of lees ander mense s'n. Jy kan vir ons ook vrae vir die Minister van Veiligheid en Sekuriteit stuur, wat ons dan in die Parlement sal stel. Staan vas. Laat jou stem hoor. Besoek die webwerf!
