SOUTH AFRICA 11 Jan - 11 Apr 2010 South Africans expected to hand in firearms

The South African parliament has passed a firearms amnesty bill that allows authorities to destroy as many illegal weapons as possible by 11 Apr 2010. The amnesty period begins on Jan 11. South Africans must hand in the weapons regardless of whether they are licensed. The new law is aimed at reducing violent crime in the country by reducing the number of firearms in circulation. President Jacob Zuma said at a rally in October that there are too many guns in South Africa.

"This country, which has such a high level of violent crime, has too many guns in the hands of the citizens," he said at a rally outside Tzaneen in Limpopo.

South Africa has conducted several amnesty periods in recent years. The sweep in 2005 netted 33,000 illegal weapons and about 46,000 legal weapons. A central concept of the amnesty initiative is that anyone in possession of an illegal firearm can hand it in at a police station anonymously.

A police spokesperson told South Africa's EyeWitness News that extensive monitoring and audit processes will be set up to make sure the number of weapons collected is properly tallied. Within six months of the collection, all illegal firearms will be destroyed, the spokesperson said.

Gun Free South Africa has urged retailers not to sell toy guns ahead of Christmas. Nov/09

RELATED READING:

Authorities to destroy illegal weapons (EyeWitness News 11 Nov 2009)
http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za/articleprog.aspx?id=26094

Gun Owners Get Another Window to Fall in Step With Firearms Law (AllAfrica.com 4 Nov 2009)
http://allafrica.com/stories/200911040596.html

Firearms amnesty farce (Richmark Sentinal 11 Nov 2009)
http://www.therichmarksentinel.com/rs_articles_contributors.asp?conid=13&recid=881