Are Section 16 applications, is DSS status, are Sport Shooting Endorsements and Sport

[scouser]

I rarely post on GS and rarely raise my head above the parapet but I think this deserves some serious, contemplative thought and discussion, which this long (sorry) post is designed to encourage. This post is my opinion, I may be wrong in my opinion, I hope I am...

Apparently, there has been a significant up tick in the number of refusals for s.16 applications. Of course there will always be those applicants that have incorrectly completed their application forms but for most, their applications will be solid and accompanied by proof of club membership, proof of Sport Shooting Association membership and an endorsement from that Association confirming that the license applied for is suitable for use in matches/events organised by that particular Association.

Why then are significantly more, correctly completed, s.16 applications suddenly being refused? Is SAPS ignoring the relevance of DSS, Association membership and Association endorsement such that the expense of jumping through the DSS hoop is meaningless and in fact we should all rather apply under s.15 instead?

As a shooter who has followed the path to DSS I always believed that SAPS would afford me a certain respect, I had done and continued to do more than the average shooter to get my license.

Much like a golfer or cyclist, I am a sports enthusiast, who enjoyed and was engaged with the precision of shooting tight groups into targets and was concerned to ensure I practised and competed and had access to the equipment I needed, to be good at the sport I enjoyed. I had done all the Act had asked of me, I had done this willingly and continued to do it week in, week out (not that it was a hardship, as a golfer enjoys weekend golf, I thoroughly enjoy my weekend shoots!) and SAPS needed to respect this.

And as far as I am concerned, personally, SAPS did appear to respect my DSS status. I have not been refused a license (my last application came through in early November 2014), I have bought and sold a few guns whilst traveling the path to the perfect competition gun for me with absolutely no hassles. My licenses were processed within 6-8 weeks, I had confidence that my DSS status, Association endorsement and Association membership worked for me as in fact it should, it was quite rightly a two way street.

Now, fortunately for me but not for others, a week or so after my last license was granted, it appeared the two way street was no more, SAPS had dishonoured their part of the deal, S.16 applications are now being refused more regularly and the letters confirming refusals are now abounding DFOs’ desks like confetti.

The reasons and rumours of reasons for the tightening of license issues are many, was it the death of Senzo Menyiwa? The fear the ANC have that the EFF would all gain DSS status? The fact that SAPS can’t investigate their way into a paper bag, let alone out of it? And having lost Pistorius, spectacularly losing Dawani and having been shown to be rather better at selling their guns to criminals and taking bribes from crime bosses than fighting crime, SAPS were looking for softer targets to improve their stats?

Whatever the reasons, where, in the recent past, licenses were correctly granted, it is apparent that SAPS are finding reasons, spurious reasons, to now refuse those licenses. Therefore, endorsements are now worthless, DSS is meaningless and Associations have become, in this writers opinion, irrelevant in the licensing process.

If that is correct, I would strongly urge Associations to sit up and smell the coffee, lest their membership begins to decline. It is time for meaningful action, Associations are in receipt of significant membership funds each year and should be devoting much of this to protecting sports shooters rights.

There should be a mechanism whereby Associations become directly involved in refusals that carry their endorsement. Associations should have a direct route to SAPS, access to communication is the key.

Associations must keep members more readily apprised of issues. SAPS should know that if they apply a broad brush to applications resulting in significant and incorrect refusals, this will be met with judicial review. That their actions will result in consequences, it doesn’t matter if it takes years to conclude, there needs to be a stick. SAPS should know that they must correctly follow procedures and that Associations will not make it easy for SAPS to avoid their duty because currently, Associations are surely not making it difficult.

We all know that we will never have what the US has and I am not advocating for that. I actually believe in good gun control, a licensing system that is fair, just and consistent, it works in New Zealand. Others would disagree but that is a discussion for another thread.

I am also aware that the rational for a license issue in South Africa is “may” not “must” but no government agency can ignore the laws and constitution that legislate for the operation of South Africa as a functioning democracy and that specifically deal with firearm licenses, yet SAPS does, all the time.

Like the NRA is and does, our Associations need to be more litigious minded, they need to step up because SAPS is running riot with our rights.

And the “If we get too litigious they'll ban guns” reason is nonsensical, it is already happening...without a meaningful fight from the Associations I pay my fees to.

Anyway, before I become irrelevant and my days of competition shooting are distant memories replaced with the draw of the string of my catapult or bow (which will surely be regulated by the Dangerous Catapult and Bow Act as lobbied for by Bow and Catapult Free SA), the message I have is;

ASSOCIATIONS CATCH AN EFFING WAKE UP, IN THE LICENSING PROCESS YOU HAVE BECOME IRRELEVANT AND YOU NEED TO CHANGE THIS!

Thanks for reading to the end.

[Scuba Steve]

mmmmmm, you base your assumptions on the fact that there is actually communication at all between saps and associations? Its amazing how that, when money is exchanged (in the case of membership fees etc,) that establishment is now assumed that it must fight all your battles for you? Membership fees in my mind would be for membership, association and the sorts, not legal battles?

Yes there are more refusals, but I fail to see how this is the associations fault and how as a result of this they must EFFING WAKE UP?

[scouser]

I have to disagree with you. I think membership fees should be used to protect shooting rights, I think Associations should be at the forefront of that fight and if there isn't communication, there should be.

In the absence of any of these matters, Associations are failing us, as spectacularly as SAPS is failing in fighting crime.

[Meteor]

Who else ScubaS ?

[Scuba Steve]

Who else ScubaS ?

you, me, scouser....4 million other firearm owners?

[pdh]

mmmmmm, you base your assumptions on the fact that there is actually communication at all between saps and associations? Its amazing how that, when money is exchanged (in the case of membership fees etc,) that establishment is now assumed that it must fight all your battles for you? Membership fees in my mind would be for membership, association and the sorts, not legal battles?

Yes there are more refusals, but I fail to see how this is the associations fault and how as a result of this they must EFFING WAKE UP?

When I pay my membership fees, I expect that assoc to represent my best interests in whatever they are involved it. In this instance it is firearms and firearm ownership.

Otherwise, what am I paying for?

[Gleock]

you, me, scouser....4 million other firearm owners?

Whose individual opinions mean nothing, but when these opinions are expressed by an official sporting body, they hold more weight.

We need to be able to obtain firearm licences to participate in the sporting discipline these organisation represent, if the organisations want to grow the sport, they will have to start fighting for their members and prospective members.
There are a lot of people that partake in the sport for fun, when it becomes a fight to get the equipment you need, that fun goes away and so do they.

[dante76]

Well done for bringing this up Scouser, I wholeheartedly agree. The associations have the weight of numbers behind them due to membership and also being recognized as such by SAPS. They should be the voice for all of us.

[scouser]

So in stark contrast to the very active NRA, who receive donations from their members and use those donations to defend 2nd Amendment rights, you believe that South African Associations who collect membership fees should have nothing to do with defending sport shooters rights? It is not their fight or responsibility? They are just there too collect fees.

And in this regard, SA's 4 million shooters should in fact start a separate Association to fight for the rights the current Associations depend upon to receive their membership fees?

Again I have to disagree with you, Associations need to step up and fight the cause.

[Gunservant]

The paltry amount I pay as a SAPSA member per annum is not nearly enough to justify me making demands of them to start "fighting for my rights". There is a heck of a lot that goes into administering the body as a whole, coordinating and holding sanctioned shooting events, and what not. They are sport shooting organisations first, and rights representatives in a very much second place. I cannot believe what I am reading. If you want to fight for your rights, I suggest you step-up to the plate and do that. There are two (three, if we count CHASA) organisations who are dedicated to doing just that, and they are sorely short of volunteers.