Wednesday 7 February 2018 is primed to be a significant day for South African gun owners. It is the day on which the Constitutional Court will decide on the matter of expired firearm licences, and what the way forward is supposed to be. Currently there are over 200 000 South African firearm owners with expired licence cards. A significant amount by any measure.
The principle parties in the fight are the Minister of Police and the South African Hunters and Game Conservation Association (SAH). Fidelity and Gun-Free South Africa (GFSA) have both entered submissions to become amicus curiea.
After weeks of deliberation with very senior counsel, Gun Owners SA (GOSA) has decided to enter the fray. The straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back was the content of GFSA’s submission. A veritable swathe of unsubstantiated and untrue claims and accusations are made, and if they are not effectively addressed and countered the court may be obliged to accept these claims as true and correct.
It requires no explanation why this would be a very bad thing for South African firearm owners.
The second part of the struggle is that the undesirable and unnecessary nature of the continuous renewal regime is not focused upon by the engaged parties as things stand. The opportunity thus presents itself for GOSA to explain to the court why this wasteful and resource-intensive practice should be entirely done away with.
Therefore the GOSA ConCourt effort is two-pronged:
- We want GFSA to be declared agents of foreign interests acting against South Africa’s sovereign national interests, and
- We would like the Constitutional Justices to rule that the entire scheme of relicensing is irrational and contra to the objects of the FCA, and thus unconstitutional.
GOSA is represented by experienced and highly competent senior counsel, who is acting in conjunction with our legal team (the FDD).
The entire effort is going to cost GOSA approximately R350 000.
I would therefore like to appeal to all legal firearm owners to please contribute where and what they can to cover these costs.
Gun Owners SA explains how this can be done on their website. There is also a funding barometer that assists in keeping track of the progress. Many people have already put their money where their mouths are, which is heartening to see.
We are currently engaged in the most important struggle to safeguard our firearm rights in the history of this country.
Please help us over the next few days to reach that target. It is for all our sakes.
We cannot let the side down at this critical moment.
Molon Labe.
Written by Gideon Joubert
Gideon is owner and editor of Paratus
The GOSA banking details are as follows:
“Donations”
Gun Owners SA
Nedbank Stellenbosch
ACB Code 107110, some banking platforms may require 198765
Account No 2008673626
Note that some banking platforms may require you to list the account as “Savings”
Please send a mail confirming deposits to donations@gunownerssa.org
You can also PayPal us…
Go to https://paypal.me/gunownerssa
Peter Moss
•7 years ago
It is heartening to see that GOSA has entered the fray and the best o0f luck to them. However it appears that firearm organisations memory is even shorter that that of crickets. South African firearm owners long ago grew very tired of the lies that accompanied organisation and wannabe organisations begging for money. Only to see it disappear into lawyers pockets achieving another loss when a great victory was promised or at least a fight.
While I know this may be difficult for legal mind to grasp but the facts cannot be denied. You cannot beat government in governments courts. Even a standard six education knows that which is why JZ never saw the inside of a court. Which lawyer can honestly explain why that is true using reasoned argument and no guessing? I doubt there is one.
Firearm owners are also weary of the money beggars who give little in return. No a court case does not hack it. People expect the organisation to FIGHT with their money for what they promise. They do not expect officials to give up that fight. That is ABANDONMENT. They do not expect officials to help the SAPS and do the job the SAPS should be doing for them. That is COLLABORATION.
How well I remember Gunsite collecting money and then spending it on a party which they claimed was their right to spend this money any way they liked.
By now if the idea that firearm officials and organisations have no It is heartening to see that GOSA has entered the fray and the best o0f luck to them. However it appears that firearm organisations memory is even shorter that that of crickets. South African firearm owners long ago grew very tired of the lies that accompanied organisation and wannabe organisations begging for money. Only to see it disappear into lawyers pockets achieving another loss when a great victory was promised or at least a fight.
While I know this may be difficult for legal mind to grasp but the facts cannot be denied. You cannot beat government in governments courts. Even a standard six education knows that which is why JZ never saw the inside of a court. Which lawyer can honestly explain why that is true using reasoned argument and no guessing? I doubt there is one.
Firearm owners are also weary of the money beggars who give little in return. No a court case does not hack it. People expect the organisation to FIGHT with their money for what they promise. They do not expect officials to give up that fight. That is ABANDONMENT. They do not expect officials to help the SAPS and do the job the SAPS should be doing for them. That is COLLABORATION.
How well I remember Gunsite collecting money and then spending it on a party which they claimed was their right to spend this money any way they liked.
By now if the idea that firearm officials and organisations have no credibility has not got through it probably has much to do with crickets.
The question that I ponder is can these self same officials who screwed it up in the beginning do any better now? I would imagine I will not be alone in wondering about that. Since they have in all these years done little if not nothing it would not be surprising to see that continue.
credibility has not got through it probably has much to do with crickets.
The question that I ponder is can these self same officials who screwed it up in the beginning do any better now? I would imagine I will not be alone in wondering about that. Since they have in all these years done little if not nothing it would not be surprising to see that continue.
Peter Moss
•7 years ago
One would have thought that it is far easier to find evidence of the complete failure of registration being a deterrent to crime or any aide to police or crime investigation. Thus re-registration serves only to burden the police even further. The principle and claim of GFSA is that registration reduces crime and is therefore justified needs to be attacked. It is a week point upon which the whole house of cards of the FCA stands and has ample evidence to support it. Neither the police or GFSA may endanger the public’s lives by diverting funding resources and man power from serving to protect citizens from crime.
Apparently I don’t know anything useful. Do not argue legal principle and nit picking points when emotional arguments are better at getting the point across.
Marcelle Joubert
•7 years ago
Unfortunately arguing in court doesn’t come for free. I’ll make my contribution.