South Africans 'lose' 50,000 guns

No-one knows how many illegal weapons circulate in South Africa

More than 50,000 guns have gone missing in South Africa since 2003, Security Minister Charles Nqakula has said.

South Africa, which has a high violent crime rate, is reviewing a 2004 gun law which gun owners said was too strict.

Mr Nqakula said most of the missing guns would have added to the total of illegal weapons in circulation.

"It is extremely disappointing to note that South African gun owners over the last three years lost 50,864 firearms," the minister told parliament.

He also said police had collected 187,772 firearms between 1 April 1 2003 and 31 March 2006.

Mr Nqakula said the police were continuing to accredit firearms training centres, which are being set up to ensure that people seeking a gun licence received training, as stipulated by the firearms law passed in 2004.

That law obliges over 2m gun owners to reapply for their licences, undergo stringent checks, sit an exam and raised the legal age for owning a firearm from 16 to 21.

It also requires gun owners to re-apply for a new gun licence every five years, a requirement which is removed in new draft amendments that were submitted to parliament by the cabinet last month.

If the draft bill becomes law, gun owners - some of whom said the five-year renewal requirement was too onerous - will only have to apply for a "competency certificate" every five years.