INTRODUCTION:
The Gun Control Alliance consists of over 200 diverse national, regional and local organisations and over 4000 individuals that have endorsed the Charter for Gun Control. A list of the organisations is attached as an appendix to this submission. The list of individuals is available on request.

Gun Free South Africa acts as secretariat for the Alliance and consulted Alliance representatives over the provisions of the Bill as widely as possible in the short time available. Some of the Alliance members will be making their own submissions to the Portfolio Committee on the provisions of the Bill now before parliament to stress the areas of their particular concerns, but they agree with the overall provisions of the proposed legislation, which meets most of the demands in the Charter. The list of Charter demands can be found on the following page.

THE CHARTER FOR GUN CONTROL CALLS FOR THE FOLLOWING:

1. STRICT SCREENING OF LICENCE HOLDERS

• No licence to be issued to any person with any conviction of any crime involving violence
• No licence to be issued to any person who has been convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs
• Existing licences of those subsequently convicted of the above to be cancelled
• No licence to be issued to any person who cannot demonstrate special need
• No licence to be issued to any person in respect of whom the local police have given reasons why a licence should not be issued (subject to the right of appeal). The local police must take into account whether the applicant is a member of a household with a history of complaints of domestic abuse.
• No licence to be issued to any person who cannot produce a recognised Certificate of Competency
• No licence to be issued to any person under the age of 18

• No licence to be issued for any automatic firearm
• No lending of any firearm to any person except where that person is under the direct supervision of the licensed owner
• Security companies must be subject to special controls including assurance of the competence of employees to whom firearms are issued
• Bona fide collectors, sports persons and hunters must register as such in order to possess more than one firearm
• Severe penalties for negligent loss of a firearm and for failure to report such a loss, including the possible refusal of any new licence
• Regular renewal of licences -with inspection by the police of the firearm together with the current licence applying to that gun

• Appeals against the refusal of a licence must be heard, preferably by an independent tribunal involving officers in the Department of Justice, in the area in which the applicant resides, in order to allow the local police to make representations.
• In the long-term an Independent Firearms Authority should be established but the introduction of a new Firearms Control Act should not be delayed because of this possibility.
• There should be a total ban on the sale or possession of replica toy guns.

1.1 The Alliance partners commend the drafters of the Bill for the plain language in which it is written. This will make it very much easier for translation into other official languages and more understandable for both the people who are applying for firearms licences and for the police who have to implement the provisions. We have one comment on Section 9 where the language does not make it clear that the nominated natural person in subsection (2) must be the holder of a competency certificate.

We have heard many arguments that the existing Arms and Ammunition Act is satisfactory, and all that is missing is its efficient implementation. We do not agree with this. The existing Act has been amended very many times and can only be described as an indecipherable mess that has opened the way to circumvention and corruption, and contributed to the proliferation of firearms in South Africa.

1.2 We support the fact that the proposed legislation is firmly rooted in the constitutional rights of every person to life and to bodily integrity (as stated in Section 2).

1.3 We also welcome the provisions for:

• Competency certificates
• Regular renewal of licences
• Limits on the number of firearms which may be legally owned by the different categories of licences holders
• The inclusion of domestic violence offences in the list of considerations to be taken into account for competency certificates and declarations of unfitness, and
• The proposed new system of databases linking all firearms' dealers, gunsmiths, manufacturers, importers and exporters, and official institutions to the new Central Firearms Register.

1.4 It seems clear from the transitional provisions in Schedule 1, item 7 that an entirely new Register is envisaged for the future. This is essential, as recent research (by the Institute for Security Studies) has shown that the present Register is 70% inaccurate. The present system used in the Registry is also inadequate for the implementation of the proposed new legislation.

We have noted various comments on the expense which will be incurred in implementing this proposed legislation. It will be very costly in the initial stages as new computer systems are installed and in the training of Designated Firearms Officers, but we believe that these costs will be recovered over the next years in savings in the costs of health care for people injured by guns, in the long term support of disabled survivors of gun violence and in the costs of gun violence to the economy in almost all spheres of our national life. The costs to society of motor vehicle accidents is now accepted and recognised. The costs of gun violence are not yet so widely acknowledged.

We also believe that once the new system of firearms control is in place it will prove cheaper than the current inefficient and overburdened system, which is characterised by huge backlogs and uncertainties.

1.5 We draw the Portfolio Committee's attention to the demand in the Gun Control Charter that

an Independent Firearms Authority be established. This should be the long-term aim of the government, even if it is not possible to implement at once. The Alliance believes that establishing an Independent Firearms Authority would be another protection against the manipulation of the licensing system by 'insiders' in collaboration with some of those in whose financial interest it is to sell as many guns to as many people as possible.

It seems to be the policy of the Ministry of Safety and Security to outsource those functions which can be better performed by civilian companies and bodies. This is one area in which outsourcing could release many police persons for active duty, while providing a greater integrity in the gun control system by placing the responsibility and accountability in the hands of an independent civilian body.

1.6 We also welcome the powers given to the Minister in terms of Section 143 to declare firearm free zones. This should prove very helpful where the police have identified places as particularly prone to firearms-related crime, such as schools, taverns and other places where alcohol is sold, casinos, cemeteries, or geographic areas where there is a high incidence of gun crime. It will also be an encouragement to people in neighbourhoods where citizens have already taken action to declare themselves gun free. It will assist them to have police enforcement of what they have voluntarily decided to do.

Partners in the Alliance very much regret the new provision in Section 15 that a person may have a shotgun as well as a handgun for purposes of self-defence.

We do understand the needs of farmers and small holders who feel very vulnerable in the current situation but we think that Section 15 needs to have a proviso which specifically forbids the issuing of a licence for a shotgun to any person who resides in a high density residential area, whether urban, peri urban or informal settlement.

We do not think that this should be left to the discretion of the Registrar but that it should be specified in the law.

Our more detailed comments follow and are numbered according to the section numbers in the Bill:

We are aware that this has been a hotly debated issue in the discussions and consultations leading up to the formulation of the new Bill. The Charter asks for the age to be raised from 16 to 18, but further consideration has led some Alliance partners to believe that the age should be radically changed to twenty-five years. The reasons for this are as follows:

• Alliance partners in particularly crime-ridden areas such as Soweto, Sebokeng and the East Rand are adamant that people are only mature enough to even be contemplated as competent firearm owners when they reach the age of twenty-five. This comment has astonished us as it has come from young people in their twenties from these areas. Some of these organisations will be making their own submissions to the Portfolio Committee, and their comments need to be taken very seriously indeed.
• Statistics from the SAPS Crime Information and Analysis Centre show that of the 12 298 murders with firearms committed in 1998 in South Africa, 10 509 (86%) of the victims were in the age group of eighteen to forty-nine years. As horrifying is the fact that 461 of the victims were under the age of eleven and 358 of them between the ages of twelve and seventeen.
• The SAPS does not yet keep such statistics of perpetrators according to age group, but various independent research studies indicate that a large percentage of perpetrators are younger than forty.

In this regard, Section 11 (5) gives the Registrar the power to vary the age limit in certain categories, and if the age limit were to be raised to twenty-five, the Registrar's discretion could be widened to include persons with special reasons other than being dedicated hunters, sports-persons or collectors.

We have grave doubts about these provisions. We do understand the concept of rehabilitation but we ask why a person who has been convicted of any the offences listed in Section 11(2) or who has been declared unfit to possess a firearm and who is truly rehabilitated should once again wish to possess a firearm.

3.3 Section 27 (2): Regarding procedures for renewing licenses

The provisions in the Bill do not make it clear what is required of applicants seeking renewal of an existing licence. Section 27 (3) does not really give certainty in this regard. Thus, we suggest that Section 27 (2) be amended as follows:

"The application must be -

(a) accompanied by a competency certificate issued in terms of Section 11 and by the information prescribed by regulation; and..."

We do not believe that all current holders of firearms licences are responsible and well trained in the use and safeguarding of their firearms and, if they are really responsible, they will surely welcome competency testing.

3.4 Section 87 (1) (a) (ii): Regarding carrying firearms on one's person:

What is a "rucksack," and what is a "similar holder"?

The Alliance is of the opinion that persons carrying a handgun in a public place must have that firearm in a holster or similar holder attached to his or her person as stipulated in Section 87 (1) (a) (i). Back packs, rucksacks, hand bags, brief cases or other things in which people carry their guns are not generally "attached to the person", and the "holder" is often stolen together with the gun concealed inside it. A condition for carrying a handgun should be the requirement to carry it in a holster.

We therefore propose the deletion of Section 87 (1)(a) (ii).

While the Gun Control Alliance acknowledges the key role and the special needs of Official Institutions it also recognises the special need to protect women and children from the possibility of domestic violence, given its unacceptable frequency in South Africa today. In light of this the Alliance believes that it is inappropriate to exempt employees of Official Institutions from the criteria that apply to private individuals applying for a Competency Certificate as set out in Chapter 5.

We therefore suggest that Section 101 (8) (a) be amended as follows:

"employee is a fit and proper person to possess a firearm and fulfils the requirements for the issuing of a Competency Certificate as set out in Chapter 5; and..."

3.6 Section 105 (1) (a) (b) and (c): Declarations of unfitness by the Registrar

In order to cover judgements made under the old Prevention of Family Violence Act, 1993, the following words should be added after the phrase "Domestic Violence Act, 1998" in Section 105 (1) (a): "or a similar restraining order in terms of any other legislation inside or outside of South Africa".

Alliance members were also concerned about what kinds of proof would be necessary in Sections 105 (1) (b) and (c). Would a sworn affidavit, for example, be sufficient for Section 105 (1) (b)?

Further, how would an "inclination to violence" as appears in Section 105 (1) (c) be defined and determined?

It is critically important that the Portfolio Committee clarifies these points when regulations are drawn up in terms of the new Act.

3.7 Section 106: Declarations of unfitness by a court

The Alliance believes that Section 106 (1) needs to be broadened. It therefore recommends that Section 106 (1) (g) read:

"murder, assault, robbery, rape, indecent assault, and violence in a domestic setting as defined in the Domestic Violence Act whether or not a firearm was used in the commission of the offence", and that the current Section 106(1) (g) be renumbered as Section 106 (1) (h).

We do not think that a person who has committed any of these offences by whatever means should ever be allowed to have a gun. This also refers back to our comments on Section 11 (3) and (4) above.

3.8 Sections 131 to 134: The establishment and composition of the Appeal Board

The Gun Control Charter demands that appeals be heard in the area in which the applicant resides. This will give a police officer who has turned down an application the opportunity to explain his or her reasons to the Appeal Board.

In the current legislation, the Appeal Board considers an appeal on the basis of documents put before it. The Appeal Board may hear the applicant in person, but not the police officer who has refused the application. This may make it difficult for the Board of Appeal to deliver a fair judgement, especially when the applicant may have the assistance of highly skilled legal or paralegal advisors paid for by the gun dealer from whom the applicant wishes to buy the firearm. The police officer refusing to recommend the application has no opportunity to appear to give reasons for the refusal and cannot obtain the same quality of legal advice.

This problem will be perpetuated if the new legislation does not allow for appeals to be heard in the provinces or regional areas where Designated Firearms Officers work. New legislation must also stipulate that the Appeal Board hears the testimony of the police officer who has refused or failed to recommend an application. We ask the Portfolio Committee to give this matter very serious consideration.

3.9 Section 142 ((3) Amnesty

The provisions for amnesty are welcome but Section 142 (3) needs to include the provision in section 45A of the Arms and Ammunition Act that a person may not be prosecuted for having failed to report to a police officer knowledge of the unlawful possession of a firearm by another person or the presence of such unlawful firearm on any premises.

3.10 Schedule 1, Item 1 (2) (b): Transitional Provisions: Exempting existing licence holders from disposing of their firearms through a licensed dealer

Members of the Gun Control Alliance recommend that this sub-item be deleted.

Section 34 (2) requires that persons wishing to dispose of any firearm or ammunition may only do so through a licensed dealer. Item 1 (2) (b) waives this requirement for people who have existing licenses and must dispose of firearms because they have too many in terms of the new Act.

The Gun Control Alliance does not understand why this should be the case, and argues instead that the sooner all transactions involving the sale or purchase of firearms are conducted only through licensed dealers the better.

It is going to take at least five years to complete the implementation of the new limits imposed by the new legislation and this provides ample time to existing license holders to dispose of excess guns through dealers. Thus, there should not be any exemptions or latitude for existing holders of licensed firearms, many of whom have numbers of guns far in excess of the numbers that could possibly be required for self defence or most other purposes.

3.11 Schedule 1 Item 11 (3): Transitional Provisions: Exempting existing licence holders from training and tests regarding the safe handling of firearms:

We cannot agree that existing firearm owners should be exempted from the requirements of Section 11 (2) (o) which stipulates the necessity for training in order to get a Competency Certificate.

The present licensing system is notoriously lax, with nearly 200 000 firearm licences issued each year. The only way to ensure that these licence holders are competent enough to use and safeguard a firearm is by stipulating that all existing firearm licence holders successfully complete a training course and testing.

The GCA would like to thank the Portfolio Committee for considering this submission. We formally request permission from the Portfolio Committee to make an oral submission when public hearings on the Firearms Control Bill are held.

Sheena Duncan, for the Gun Control Alliance

10th June 2000