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Date
: 05/09/2006
Source: Department of Safety and Security
Title: Shabangu: Firearms Control Amendment Bill, 2006
Address by Deputy Minister of Safety and Security, honourable Ms
Susan Shabangu, at the second reading of the Firearms Control
Amendment Bill, 2006 Madam Speaker,
Honourable members of the House:
One of the debates that have been polarised in South Africa is the
matter of gun ownership and the prerequisite to control such
possession.
Whatever the arguments are, there are certain truths that should be
obvious to anyone irrespective of the side they occupy in the
debate. The first is that many of our people die from gunshots.
Figures of such deaths stand in the thousands every year. In fact,
firearms account for more than 50 percent of murders in South
Africa. It is also a fact that some of the firearms that are used
in the murders and other violent crimes were once upon a time
legally owned but that they slipped from the hands of the legal
owners into those of criminals either because the owners were
robbed of or they lost their firearms.
Every year an average 20 000 legal guns fall into wrong hands and
become illegal in South Africa when the owners lose them. Of
course, I am not suggesting that it is only those guns that
constitute the pool of illegal weapons in circulation in South
Africa. There are other sources that feed into the illegal pool
including guns that are smuggled into the country from other
territories.
The link between the easy accessibility of firearms and gun
violence and death has been proved by many studies that have been
conducted on the matter.
Our country is among a number of others internationally that are
defining regulations to impose strict gun control laws as a means
to curb gun violence. In fact firearm regulations are becoming the
order of the day rather than exceptions in many corners of the
world, including the African continent.
There are stricter gun laws across the globe than the case is in
South Africa. I suppose this has to do with the fact that ours is a
new democracy and for many decades in the past we were at war with
ourselves and firearms had a place in that war. But the matter of
firearms is very complicated and even older democracies keep on
reviewing their laws for better gun control.
Self-contained air cartridge guns were banned as recently as the
beginning of 2004 in the United Kingdom (UK) because such weapons
can be easily converted to shoot live ammunition. Anyone needing to
possess such guns needed a licence to do so. Handguns and revolvers
are classified as restricted weapons in countries like
Canada.
The Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Co-operation
Organisation (SARPCCO) drafted a firearms protocol for Southern
African Development Community (SADC) that was adopted in 2001 by
the SADC Heads of State in August that year. That protocol on
firearms raised the following among other things:
* strengthening national gun control measures * registering
firearms in proper books of account * collection and destruction of
surplus or confiscated firearms * stricter law enforcement.
South African Police Service (SAPS) chiefs are members of SARPCCO
and were part of the deliberations that produced the draft protocol
on firearms.
It is instructive, of course, to understand the feeling of the
South Pacific Chiefs of Police Conference on the matter of gun
ownership as enunciated in the Nadi Legal Framework for a Common
Approach to Weapons Control, which was signed at Nadi, Fiji, on 10
March 2000. They recorded that “the possession and use of
firearms, ammunition and related materials is a privilege that is
conditional on the overriding need to ensure public safety and to
improve public safety by imposing strict controls on the possession
and use of firearms, ammunition, other related materials and
prohibited weapons.”
We are also influenced in our approach to gun ownership by the
“overriding need to ensure public safety”.
Irresponsible gun ownership does not guarantee safety at home or in
public. Hence the desire for responsible gun ownership. It goes
without saying that illegal guns are a primary target in any
programme to ensure public safety; hence the many raids the police
have conducted in the past looking for and confiscating such
illegal weapons.
The Firearms Control Amendment Bill, 2006 which we are piloting
through this House today, is a response to the experience many
police officials, gun owners and other stakeholders in the firearms
industry have amassed in the context of the implementation of the
Firearms Control Act of 2000.
We initiated consultations with the stakeholders and exercised
leniency in many respects when it was necessary to enforce certain
aspects of the law.
That consultation will continue to be a feature of our gun control
exercise and suggestions that are cogent and relevant will always
be accommodated in the work that we do, including any necessary
amendments to the law in future.
On behalf of the Minister, the Ministry and SAPS, I would like to
register appreciation to all who participated in the public
hearings that were held in respect of this Bill. We appreciate the
role played by parliament in this, particularly the role played by
the relevant parliamentary committees.
Our teams from SAPS and the Ministry that were involved in the
drafting of the Bill, together with personnel from Justice and
Constitutional Development, played a pivotal role in bringing the
Bill to parliament. Well done everybody.
I thank you!
Issued by: Department of Safety and Security
5 September 2006
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