Legal Opinion on the number of cartridges a legal firearm owner may purchase in South Africa – GOSA Law
Gun Owners South Africa’s input on the legal opinion of the number of cartridges a legal firearm owner may purchase and have in his/her possession based on the Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000, hereinafter referred to as ‘’the Act’’
GOSA has employed the legal services of our external legal team which consists of Junior Counsel, Senior Counsel, Senior Attorneys and the In-House Legal Counsel of the organization to analyse the provisions of the Firearms Control Act which specifically deal with the restriction on the number of cartridges a firearm owner may have in his possession. Adv GPR Van Rooyen has historically submitted a concise legal opinion with which we unequivocally concur and same has been attached hereto as Annexure ‘’A”.
It is therefore imperative to concisely repeat the relevant sections of the Act where the conception of our legal opinion has been formed:
Section 90 of the Act states:
90 Prohibition of possession of ammunition
No person may possess any ammunition unless he or she-
(a) holds a licence in respect of a firearm capable of discharging that ammunition;
(b) holds a permit to possess ammunition;
Therefore, all that is required to possess ammunition in terms of the Act is to have a firearm capable of discharging that ammunition and to hold a permit to possess said ammunition. The permit would subsequently stem from the licencing of the firearm in
terms of the Act.
Section 91 of the Act states that:
91 Restrictions on possession of ammunition
(1) The holder of a licence to possess a firearm referred to in Chapter 6 may not possess more than 200 cartridges for each firearm in respect of which he or she holds a licence.
(2) The limitation in subsection (1) does not apply to- (a) a dedicated hunter or dedicated sports person who holds a licence issued in terms of this Act or any other holder of a licence issued in terms of this Act authorised bythe Registrar to possess more than 200 cartridges
for a firearm in respect of which he or she holds a licence on good cause shown; or [NB: Para. (a) has been substituted by s. 26 of the Firearms Control Amendment Act 28 of 2006, a provision which will be put into operation by proclamation.]
(b) the holder of a licence to possess a firearm issued in terms of this Act in respect of ammunition bought and discharged at an accredited shooting range.
Adv GPR Van Rooyen in his opinion refers to the Act and gives an excerpt of the definitions of a dedicated hunter and sports shooter in Annexure ‘’A’’, more specifically at Paragraph 2.2 of his structured legal opinion.
GOSA is of the opinion that Section 91 is entirely comprehensible and leaves no room for any contrary interpretation.
In like manner to every rule of law, there lies an exception. The rule of law indicates in Section 91(1) that the holder of a licence to possess a firearm referred to in Chapter 6 may not possess more than 200 cartridges for each firearm in respect of which he or she holds a licence. The exception to this rule of law lies in Section 91(2) wherein it clearly states that Subsection (1) does not apply to a dedicated hunter and dedicated sports shooter who has a licence issued in terms of the Act. The exception does not specify in terms of which section of the Act you need to licence a firearm under. The ONLY requirement is to be a dedicated hunter or sports shooter. Dedicated status is not attached to a certain section and can therefore be obtained independently.
If dedicated status were to be interpreted to be attached to a Section 16 licence, it would not only prejudice licence holders who have dedicated status with licenced firearms in terms of Section 13 and 15 but would also encourage firearm owners to obtain multiple firearms in terms of Section 16 in order to purchase and possess over 200 rounds of ammunition and this
very notion would be contrary to the preamble of the Act which is the introductory part of a statute, stating its purpose, aims, and justification, wherein it states: ‘’ AND WHEREAS the increased availability and abuse of firearms and ammunition has contributed significantly to the high levels of violent crime in our society; ‘’
Therefore, it can be deduced that one of the main purposes or aims of the Act is to minimize the number of firearms private individuals can have access to and with this being the case, it is impossible to grossly undertake and misinterpret the Act and come to the conclusion that one needs a section 16 firearm to have dedicated status when a section 16 firearm is clearly not a prerequisite to possess dedicated status which status is conferred by an accredited institution and not by SAPS. The regulations to the Act itself dealing with that status have defined a person in good standing to be someone who: (b) actually fulfils the intent of the Act in respect of his
or her status as a dedicated hunter or dedicated sports person, or collector as the case may
be. It can therefore be deduced that purchasing and having more than 200 rounds of Ammunition as a dedicated hunter and sports shooter proves that the individual has
conformed with the provisions of the Act.
GOSA LAW in collaboration with TAC Shac.
2 SWAZI STREET, NORTHCLIFF, 2195, 011 888 1355