Competency Certificates

**Alan** · 12-03-2012, 17:03

Maybe this needs a separate posting, but i am still puzzled by competency certificates. SAGA had a circular saying your competency expires on the same date as your longest firearm license for which you have competency. I.e if you have a ten year license for say a shotgun, dated say 1/1/2008, then your competency (including obviously a shotgun) expires on 1/1/2018. It is NOT five years any more, this has been gazetted. So back to my original question, if you get another shotgun license in say five years time dated 1/1/2017 (which lasts for ten years) does your competency expire on 1/1/2027?? If your are a dedicated shooter of any kind, with enough money, then you will not need another competency ever or when you die - whichever is sooner! Sort of makes sense for DS's at least. Any takes on this?

**Freakazoid** · 12-03-2012, 17:35

Hmmm never thought of it in that way.

**IdleLayabout** · 12-03-2012, 17:36

Sorry to sound cynical but do you really think the people who make up these rules think the issue through completely? The plan (such as there ever was) was for you to have one competency card onto which they'd load all your competencies. Somehow this became too much work (they struggle to print normal licenses) and last year they changed the system so that your competency now became a piece of paper, printed out and faxed to your DFO.

The text on my piece of paper says: "The Firearm Control Amendment Act, no 28 of 2006 stipulates that the Competency Certificate remains valid for the same period of validity as the period determined in the Act in the respect of the license to which the Competency Certificate relates, unless the Competency Certificate is terminated or renewed in accordance to the provisions of the act."

I have several competency certificates. One of them is for both "Handgun and Rifle". The handgun in question is my SD gun and the rifle is for OSS. So that particular cert is valid for 10 years after the license for my rifle was granted (2021 I think), until later this year when the DSS license for my Glock comes through in which case the comp cert is valid until 2022, and so on etc until I get tired of buying guns. So someone who owns a SD pistol and an OSS pistol only needs to renew their competency every 10 years compared to someone who owns only an SD pistol, even if they use it for sport and have DSS.

Also, what if you sell all your firearm(s) relating to the comp cert? Do you immediately become incompetent or can their system remember when your no-longer-owned firearm license was due to expire?

It's also an interesting insight into the mind of the person who cooked this one up. A failure to realize that someone who bought a gun may at some stage buy another one.

**Alan** · 12-03-2012, 19:57

That sounds pretty good to me - buy another pistol/rifle/shotgun every nine years or so (DS) and never get another competency certificate again. Plus never sell something - ever - (or at the wrong time!). No doubt the rules may change, but clearly CCerts are something they don't want to do very often - and yes failure to realize this is not our problem. Again though it sort of makes sense at least for DS's as like when
will you ever become incompetent? Anyway I will get an opinion and post the result. Before 2018 though, when my present CCert expires!!

**Freakazoid** · 12-03-2012, 20:13

I'm sure Capt. Nortier would be able to clarify this for us.

**PCfanatic** · 24-11-2012, 10:57

Sorry to resurrect such a rather old thread, but I thought it's better than to just start a new one.
Any updates to this? I'm asking as mine expires in 2013, but my OSS rifle only expires in 2019. Therefore I'm still legal to 2019. But what happens when I want to buy a new firearm in 2014? Then when I attach my competancy they might say ''sorry man, you're competancy has expired, no license for you for now''

I have bought another OSS firearm this year. Does this effectively means my competancy period is automatically extended to 2022? Do the CFR update their system regarding this?

**PCfanatic** · 26-11-2012, 09:09

Nobody?

**Psychosis** · 26-11-2012, 09:32

Originally Posted by PCfanatic

Nobody?

I can tell you this, from experience.

My 'old' comptency was issued in 2006, and expired in October 2011. (Handgun)

The license issued in terms of the above only expires in April 2013 (Yip, was a FA bought in the 'old days' where the CCert cam qickly, but the FA took 18 months).

I applied for a new FA license in December last year, effectively after the CCert had expired, but did include the gazetted section indicating the CCert was valid until Arpil 2013, because the license issued in terms of the CCert only expires in Arpil 2013.

The license was approved. No hassles.

Having said all of the above though, there is no harm in getting some sort of final clarification on this?

I am personally going to renew my Hand-gun competency soon, before my SD license expires in April next year, just so that I can be certain that I remain legal.