Firearms Amnesty Update
| Reference: MR301 |
Date: March 1, 2005 |
Minister for Safety and Security Mr. Charles Nqakula reminded
South Africans that there is only one month left before the
firearms amnesty expires March 31. He stressed that immediately
thereafter the police would intensify their operations in
recovering illegal firearms and ammunition wherever they are.
Institutions and individuals found in possession of such
firearms or ammunition would be dealt with harshly in terms of
the law.
The amnesty that entails indemnity against prosecution for
possessing firearms and ammunition illegally, commenced January
1, 2005. Since then a steady flow of firearms and ammunition has
been handed in at police stations across the country. Firearms
or ammunition so surrended will be processed by designated
police officials at the respective police stations and disposed
of through the normal destruction procedures.
Statistics regarding handed- in firearms and ammunition are
relayed daily to the Central Firearms Registry in Pretoria where
a central database captures, collates and store this data.
The figure below indicates all firearms and ammunition handed
in during the period January 1, - February 28, 2005:
| FIREARM |
CONFISCATED |
AMNESTY
(illegal firearms) |
VOLUNTARY
(legal firearms) |
TOTAL |
| TOTAL |
5395 |
2787 |
7881 |
16063 |
| AMMUNITION |
|
|
|
|
| TOTAL |
67219 |
56386 |
181987 |
305592 |
Ends
Trevor Bloem
Director: Media Liaison
021 467 7000
082 778 3561
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