|
Schools to lose rifles
01/04/2003 14:54 - (SA)
Cape Town - All firearms, including those currently used for target shooting, are to be removed from schools, Education Minister Kader Asmal announced on Tuesday.
Briefing the media at parliament, he said following further talks with the ministers of safety and security and defence, the national police commissioner and senior police officers, and shooting associations, new information had come to light.
Asmal said he and the council of education ministers had not been aware of this when they took the decision recently regarding the .22 rifles given to schools by the defence force.
The police had presented a document showing that a number of educational institutions, including many schools, owned different types of guns, including high calibre guns and rifles.
"What is most disturbing, is that some of these guns are either lost or stolen, and can no longer be accounted for."
The numbers were in the "hundreds".
"It was the view of the police, therefore, that they needed to audit all guns that are in the possession of education institutions, as part of their campaign to reduce the number of guns in the hands of private citizens," he said.
The campaign also involved the retrieval of guns in the possession of government departments, and was in line with the new legislation on licensing firearms.
SANDF to retrieve guns
Thus, it was necessary for the South African National Defence Force to retrieve its guns and all related property from schools. This process had already started.
It was now accepted that lethal weapons should not be allowed in schools.
Regarding the promotion of the sport, the police had suggested it move more towards using air guns created specifically for the sport, and where it was necessary for pupils to move to advanced training, they could join professional clubs licensed for this purpose.
Such air guns did not have to be licensed.
Asmal said the shooting associations had presented their own plans for using air guns, and he would assist them in this respect.
He would also consult the minister of sport and recreation to set up a task team as soon as possible, which would ensure the sport did not lose the momentum it had gained, as a result of the decision to recall the SANDF equipment.
The education department had "never deviated from our policy to declare schools gun-free zones, even as we were seeking to make target shooting accessible to all".
"Our position remains that schools must be rid of all dangerous weapons or substances."
The safety and security ministry would be announcing regulations in this regard soon, Asmal said.
|
News
