Anti-gun law picket at parly

2004-06-30 16:14

Cape Town - About 100 people held a placard demonstration outside the gates of parliament on Wednesday to protest against the Firearms Control Act, due to come into effect on Thursday.

The Victims Against Crime members contend the act is an unconstitutional encroachment on the rights to privacy, property, life, presumption of innocence, and self-defence.

The picket had the support of the African Christian Democratic Party, whose spokesperson on justice and constitutional development matters, Steve Swart, said his party was on record as opposing the act.

The ACDP believed, among other things, the exorbitant costs of implementation should rather be spent on equipping and training police officers to fight crime.

"Additionally, the central firearms registry does not have the capacity to deal with the requirements of the new legislation," he said.

Mechanisms were not in place to enable competency certificates to be obtained, with detrimental consequences of, among others, security industries.

"The focus on crime fighting should be to take the estimated four million illegal firearms off the streets and not to focus on law-abiding citizens who lawfully possess firearms," he said.

The ACDP supported the right of responsible firearm ownership to enable citizens to protect themselves and their families, particularly in view of the high crime rate in South Africa.

Meanwhile an urgent application by gun owners to have the implementation of the act postponed beyond midnight was dismissed in the Pretoria High Court on Wednesday.

Judge Ben du Plessis found there was no merit to the application and criticised its late filing.

- SAPA