[There is a campaign by the Police to get illegal weapons handed in. There will be an amnesty until 31st March, 2005. Jan]

More than 10 000 guns have been handed over voluntarily to the police since the start of a gun amnesty on January 1, the ministry of safety and security said on Tuesday.

These include 7 881 licensed firearms and 2 787 unlicensed weapons.

Close to 5 400 rounds of ammunition were also taken from the public.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula urged the public to hand over their illegal firearms before March 31 in order to avoid prosecution.

Nqakula said after the amnesty, the police will start “intensifying their operations in recovering illegal firearms and ammunition, wherever they are”.

“Institutions and individuals found in possession of such firearms or ammunition would be dealt with harshly in terms of the law,” the minister warned.

The amnesty entails indemnity against prosecution for possessing firearms and ammunition illegally but does not absolve anyone from crimes committed with such weapons.

The firearms and ammunition handed in is being processed by designated police officials and disposed of through normal destruction procedures.

Statistics regarding firearms and ammunition in question are relayed daily to the Central Firearms Registry in Pretoria where a central database captures, collates and stores this data, he said.

In Johannesburg, 621 firearms have been handed over to the police since January.

Inspector Amanda Roestoff said 203 unlicensed firearms and 418 licensed weapons were handed over voluntarily.

Roestoff said the 418 firearms originated from inheritances or belonged to elderly people who no longer wanted to possess them.

Police also confiscated 192 firearms, including ammunition and magazines.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Johannesburg area Commissioner Oswald Reddy urged the public to “vigorously address firearms control” in the province.

Those who should hand over their firearms include:

persons bearing knowledge of whereabouts of illegal firearms, ammunition and firearm parts;

persons who inherited firearms and who did not apply for a licence, permit or authorisation to legally possess such firearms;

persons who used to be legally in possession of firearms and sold or passed ownership on to another person but are still in possession of ammunition or parts of those firearms;

manufacturers, gunsmiths and dealers who possess surplus, obsolete or redundant ammunition and firearm parts;

official institutions (government departments) that are in possession of surplus, redundant and obsolete firearms, ammunition and firearm parts;

storage facilities such as customs and excise (including bond stores) where firearms and/or ammunition are stored;

firearm importers and exporters; and

non-official institutions such as private security companies and private investigators that have surplus, redundant or obsolete firearms and ammunition.

— Sapa

Source: Daily Mail & Guardian
URL: http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/br…/p>