AfriForum welcomes ruling on expired firearm licences

23 April 2021  

AfriForum is satisfied with a ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeals on 22 April 2021, which will allow firearm owners with expired firearm licenses to reapply for these licences. 

The South African Police Service (SAPS) initially refused to consider new applications for people who found themselves in this predicament. The SAPS’s refusal to accept these applications was based on a letter from the SAPS Commissioner dated 3 February 2016. The letter read that these applications should not be accepted by the SAPS and that people should be informed to hand in their firearms at their nearest police station. 

“The ruling now created an opportunity for people whose firearm licences have expired to reapply for these licences, without having to wait for another amnesty period,” says Marnus Kamfer, AfriForum’s Legal and Risk Manager for Community Safety. 

AfriForum often and successfully applied sufficient pressure on the Minister of Police to consider and announce further amnesty periods to allow firearm owners whose licences had expired to legally own their firearms once again.

“This ruling creates certainty for a great number of South Africans who accidently failed to renew their licences timeously and who did not make use of the amnesty periods for whatever reason. They therefor had no other outcome to own their firearms legally,” Kamfer concludes.

Issued by Carina Bester, Media Relations Officer, AfriForum, 23 April 2021