Gun dealers still wait for licences

By Francois Rank Deputy Chief Reporter

NOT a single gun dealer in South Africa has received the necessary licence for them to trade in firearms in 2005.

Instead, the Central Firearm Registry in Pretoria has allowed dealers who have reapplied for their dealers’ licences to continue to trade while awaiting their licences.

SA Arms and Ammunition Dealers’ Association secretary Jill Howard said: “The last time a dealer in this country got a licence to trade was in December, 2003.

“Dealers have to apply before the end of October for a new licence to trade the following year. We all got licences for 2004. When the new (Firearms) Act was implemented, all dealers received a fax from the registry saying our licences would be valid for a further six months.”

Dealers’ licences were extended until the end of June this year. Howard said dealers who intended to continue trading had applied for dealers’ licences before this cut-off date – some as early as March.

“There is no dealer in this country that I know of who is dealing with a current dealer’s licence,” Howard said.

Police spokesman Director Phuti Setati said the registry was aware that dealers were waiting for responses and was in the process of providing licences.

“All the applications that we have received are receiving attention,” he said. “Those who have not received a response from us will receive one in due course.”

Setati would not comment on Howard’s claim that no dealers had received their licences this year. “The process is under way and once it is completed we will reveal that figure,” he said.

Setati did reveal that the number of registered gun dealers in South Africa was showing a downward trend. “According to our records, there were 564 licensed firearm dealers in 2003. There were 550 in 2004.The renewal process of the licences for the dealers for 2005 is still under way and as a result the final figure will be provided in due course.”

He said there were 42 licensed firearm dealers in the Eastern Cape last year.

Although they have not received new licences, gun dealers have continued to trade, saying the fact that they have applied means their past licence remains valid.

Chris Evans, who sits on the dealers’ association executive and owns Aquila Arms in Port Elizabeth, said: “Unless the police process my application, my licence remains valid until they come back to me and tell me I can or cannot trade.

“There is a general lack of service delivery. One of the biggest problems is that documentation constantly goes missing.”