Amnesty nets mostly legal guns

2005-01-17 21:49

Bloemfontein - Firearms handed in to police in three provinces in the first two weeks of a three-month amnesty period were mostly legal weapons.

On Monday, about 560 firearms had been been handed in to police in Gauteng.

"Sixty-three firearms were handed in under amnesty and about 499 was handed in voluntarily," said Superintendent Chris Prinsloo, provincial co-ordinator for firearms.

"We also confiscated 256 firearms (unlawful) during this period."

Gauteng police also received more than 21 000 rounds of ammunition of which most were handed in voluntarily.

The amnesty began on January 1 2005 and allows people to hand in unlicensed firearms at their nearest police station.

Prinsloo said most of the unlicensed firearms handed in were inherited by people who had no use for them.

"We think there are about 400 000 of these inherited firearms in the country."

Grenade among the guns

Prinsloo said the amnesty was an ideal opportunity for people to surrender inherited firearms whose licenses had not been renewed.

By Friday of last week, police in the Free State had received 142 firearms that were voluntarily surrendered. A grenade and 64 firearms were handed in under the amnesty.

"We are inundated by people phoning in about the amnesty provisions," said Superintendent Jurg Kruger, the Free State police firearms chief.

"Most firearms handed in are hunting rifles and handguns that would make them too expensive for owners to keep under the new firearm law," said Kruger.

In the Northern Cape, police had received 50 firearms and more than 2 400 rounds of ammunition since the beginning of the year.

North West tally is 50 firearms

Captain Tony Modise said police had received 22 pistols, 16 rifles, 10 revolvers, two airguns and two semi-automatic guns by Monday.

In North West, more than 50 firearms, including seven rifles and three shotguns, were handed in voluntarily to be destroyed by police.

Senior superintendent Pieter du Plessis said 17 firearms were handed in under amnesty. Eleven were handguns and the rest rifles.

More than 1 400 rounds of ammunition were handed in.

- SAPA