Over the past couple of weeks, much has been said about whether or not firearm owners should renew their current firearms in accordance with government’s new Firearms Control Act, Act No 60 of 2000.

Several articles with regard to this matter appeared in the Zoutpansberger. Last week, an Afrikaans article appeared in which the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) national spokesperson, Mr Tlali Tlali, explained the process. In his response, he also made it very clear that under no circumstances can firearm owners be prosecuted for failing to renew their weapons within the specified periods, although they might find it difficult to renew their firearm licences after the renewal period expires on March 31, 2009.

Following this article, the Zoutpansberger received several requests from English-speaking readers to summarize Mr Tlali’s response in English as not all readers are proficient in Afrikaans.

In his response, Mr Tlali explains that Schedule 1 of the Firearms Control Act contains transitional provisions and Section 1 of the Schedule makes provision that an existing valid firearm licence remains valid for a period of five years from the date on which the Act came into operation. This is the primary provision that specifically provides for the legality of existing licences – issued under the old Act. The Act came into operation on July 1, 2004, and all valid licences thus remain valid until 30 June 2009.

“Section 11 of Schedule 1, however, makes provision for the renewal of existing licences. It inter alia provides that the holder of a licence must apply for the corresponding licence in terms of the new Act ‘within the period determined by the minister by notice in the Gazette’. Different periods may be determined, depending on various factors such as dates of birth or surnames,” Tlali said. He referred to Government Notice No. R974, as published in Government Gazette No. 26664 of August 20, 2004, which provides for the following: If a licensee was born between January 1 and March 31 s/he must renew between January 1 and December 31, 2005; born between April 1 and June 30 - renew between January 1 and December 31, 2006; born between July 1 and September 30 - renew between January 1 and December 31, 2007; and born between October 1 and December 31 - renew between January 1 and December 31, 2008. In the meantime, the deadline of December 31 this year has been extended to March 31 next year.

“Section 11 is a procedural provision that provides only for procedure and does not deal with the legitimacy of licences. It has specifically been enacted to provide for the smooth transition from the old Act to the new one. Section 1 of Schedule 1 provides, as indicated, supra for the legitimacy of licences. Should a licensee therefore have failed to renew his licence during the prescribed period, he may not, unless there are compelling reasons for the condonation of the late filing of the renewal applications, apply for the renewal of his licences later; however, he may, in accordance with section 1 (2) of Schedule 1, dispose of his firearm(s) before 30 June 2009.

“A person who has failed to renew his or her licence(s) during the prescribed periods has not committed any offence, more particularly, s/he will not be in the illegal possession of a firearm. Such a person may approach the Designated Firearms Officer with an application for the late filing of the renewal applications, which may be considered by the Provincial Designated Firearms Officer and, if approved, must be processed for re-licensing; but, if not, s/he will have to legally dispose of the firearm(s) before 30 June 2009,” said Tlali.

With regard to the above, Tlali said that a person cannot and should not be prosecuted for being in possession of an unlicensed firearm based on her or his failure to have renewed his or her licence(s) during the prescribed periods. S/he should not even be administratively “prosecuted” for having failed to renew licenses during the prescribed period since the licenses remain valid until 30 June 2009 and such a person still has the right to decide to dispose of his or her firearm(s) before that date, in accordance with the law.