South Africa's licensed gun owners are furious about a new law which could force millions to hand over their weapons -- removing what some consider their only defense against rampant crime.
All legal guns must be re-licensed over a five-year period starting this week and thousands of applications have already been rejected or snagged in red tape.
Critics of the firearms control act say it is an attempt to disarm law-abiding citizens while leaving criminals armed and free to rape, rob and kill.
The government and gun-control activists defend the legislation as urgent and necessary for a country with one of the world's highest rates of gun-related crime.
"Without this, I'm a sitting duck," said Craig Rissik, a Johannesburg taxi driver, who fears that the licence for the revolver he sits on will not be renewed.
Crime has soared over the past decade since the fall of apartheid, and many citizens have bought licensed guns.
There are at least 2.5 million registered owners of up to 4.5 million guns -- more than the army and police combined. In addition, there are thought to be up to 4 million illegal guns, many smuggled from Mozambique after its civil war ended.
A three-month amnesty allowing people to hand in unlicensed guns free from prosecution started this week.
Advertisements abound for pistols, rifles and shotguns. So many people carry weapons that places which ban them -- such as certain retail and leisure outlets -- feel compelled to offer free storage.
The police complain that licensed owners often do not know how to use their guns, or allow them to fall into criminal hands. Many firearms are reported lost or stolen.
The number of recorded murders fell below 20,000 in the year to last March -- the lowest annual figure for a decade -- but at 42.7 per 100,000 people, the rate was still one of the world's highest. Almost half of the deaths were thought to be gun-related.
Recent high-profile cases included a football referee who shot a player during a match and a father who killed his daughter after mistaking her for a thief driving off with the family car.
Under the new gun control legislation, owners are now obliged to re-license. The law automatically denies guns to drug or alcohol abusers, spouse beaters or others inclined to violence or "deviant behavior." It raises the legal age of ownership from 16 to 21 and limits most people to one weapon for self-defense and a maximum of four others for other uses such as hunting.
Each applicant must complete an accredited training course and be cleared by a police background check involving interviews with three acquaintances. They must also install a safe or strongbox for storage and prove to the police that they need a gun.
Owners who now need to re-license fear that the regulations have been deliberately made too rigorous and that they will be rejected and obliged to part with their guns or risk 15 years in jail for illegal possession.
Figures show that in the past six months, 71 percent of those seeking licences for new guns have been rejected, deepening suspicions that the law is designed to disarm most owners.
Most of the rejected applicants are reportedly black, and the Black Gun Owners' Association has given warning that people will resort to buying illegal firearms.
Gun dealers complain that sales have plunged from 15,000 a month to nearly zero and that they have had to refund money to customers whose applications have been rejected or stuck in the bureaucracy.
The government has acknowledged teething problems, but says legitimate applications will succeed. Groups such as Gun Free South Africa have welcomed what they hope will be a new era.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of