A key proposal of the Firearms Control Amendment bill currently on the table, is to remove self defence as a reason to posses a firearm.
Read the draft amendment bill here.
This is an excerpt from the bill, page 99, section 1.2:
Given the alarming crime rate increase and the budget cuts to the South African Police Service (SAPS), South Africans are extremely vulnerable to violent crime.
For the police minister and others to agree that removing the ability for good citizens to have firearms for self-defence will reduce deaths and violence, is draconian to say the very least. Add to this that owning a firearm for sports and hunting would still be allowed, although limited, and the situation is absurd.
DA Shadow Minister of Police Andrew Whitfield said that without tackling the real problem of a high rate of violent crimes in the country – the Bill is merely aiming to disarm law-abiding citizens. He stated that it is reckless and leaves civilians with their hands tied behind their back when facing criminals. The DA has launched a petition against the bill and urges the public to participate as a matter of grave importance.
“The SAPS budget for visible policing is being cut by R3.8 billion while VIP protection has been increased by R26 million. This is the clearest demonstration that the ANC doesn’t care about the safety of ordinary South Africans.
We urge those who have not signed the petition to visit https://petitions.da.org.za/p/stopgunbill and sign it to keep “self-defence” as a reason to possess a firearm. This will go a long way towards putting a stop to this absurd and baseless piece of legislation.
We also urge the public to oppose this draconian Bill and to submit their objections to comments.fcabill@csp.gov.za and to the DA at stopgunbill@da.org.za.
The SAPS is now more than ever in complete disarray as is evident from the chaos at the Central Firearms Registry and the backlog in DNA case exhibits. While Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, wants to disarm citizens, SAPS is bleeding hundreds of firearms and “losing” them to criminals.
While the SAPS are failing to protect citizens, the DA believes this legislation should not mandate them to remove the option of civilians trying to fend for themselves.”
