EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
FIREARMS CONTROL ACT, 2000 (ACT. NO. 60 OF 2000): DECLARATION OF AN AMNESTY IN TERMS OF SECTION 139 OF THE ACT
6. In terms of section 139(c) the notice in question must specify the conditions under which the amnesty may be granted. The following conditions are proposed in the draft Notice -
(a) a written application for amnesty by an applicant must be handed in at a police station and the application must state the full names, identity number and residential address of the applicant, as well as the type, caliber, make, model and all marked serial numbers or other identification marks on the firearm or particulars of the ammunition;
(b) the firearm or ammunition concerned must be surrendered by the applicant to a member of the South African Police Service on duty at any police station and such a member must issue a receipt in respect of such firearm or ammunition to the applicant; and
(c) the applicant for amnesty must, when surrendering the firearm or ammunition, notify the relevant Designated Firearms Officer in writing if he or she intends to apply for a licence to possess the firearm or ammunition, as contemplated in section 139(4) of the Firearms Control Act, 2000 and lodge the application within 14 days from the date on which the firearm or ammunition was surrendered (the relevant Designated Firearms Officer has the meaning assigned to it in the Firearms Control Regulations, 2004, and particulars of the nearest Designated Firearms Officer may be obtained from any police station).
It is further determined that the South African Police Service must act in accordance with the provisions of Regulation 93(4)(a) of the Firearms Control Regulations, 2004, if an application contemplated in paragraph (c) is not duly lodged or not lodged within the specified period and test all firearms surrendered in terms of this amnesty ballistically.
A person who surrenders a firearm in compliance with a notice published in terms of subsection (1) may apply in terms of this Act for a licence in respect of that firearm. If a licence is granted, the firearm and ammunition, if any, surrendered in terms of this Act must be returned to the holder of the licence.
"(1) A person who surrenders a firearm or ammunition in terms of an amnesty notice published in terms of section 139 of the Act, must surrender the firearm or ammunition to a police station.
(a) the expiry of the amnesty period; or
(b) an application contemplated in section 130(4) of the Act was refused".