Firearms: 'Care or beware'
02/08/2004 21:35  - (SA)  

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Pretoria - Police warned firearm owners on Monday they faced prosecution if they negligently lost their firearms.

This comes after 68 illegal firearms, including revolvers, hunting rifles and a sub-machine gun were seized in and around Pretoria in the past week.

More than 50 people were arrested in connection with the illegal possession of firearms either during, before, or after the commission of a serious crime, with most arrests taking place in Mamelodi, Erasmia and Soshanguve, said a statement from Pretoria area commissioner Amon Mashigo.

Preliminary investigations had revealed that firearm owners lost their firearms by leaving them under their car seat, being drunk and walking alone, or by simply leaving them unattended.

Mashigo said that under the Firearms Control Act, which came into force on July 1, anybody could be declared unfit to possess a firearm if they lost their firearm negligently. They could also be fined.

The seized firearms would be sent for ballistics testing to see if they were linked to other crimes and police might also trace the firearms to their original owners.

- SAPA

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