Gun-amnesty deadline extended
2004-11-11 08:36
Jan-Jan Joubert
Cape Town - The amnesty for owners of illegal or unwanted guns has been rescheduled to end in the first quarter of 2005 - from January 1 to March 31.
The amnesty was originally planned to end in the last quarter of 2004, but it was felt the holidays would reduce its effectiveness.
On behalf of the police, assistant commissioner Philip Jacobs told the parliament's portfolio committee during a presentation on Wednesday that all indications were that there were still a large number of illegal firearms in South Africa.
Jacobs asked that people who wanted to get rid of legal firearms to hand them in during this period.
All firearms submitted to police will be subjected to ballistic tests to determine if they have been used in a
crime.
If the test results are positive, the amnesty will not
protect the person handing in the weapon against enquiries or prosecution for the crime in which the weapon was used.
- Beeld