Windhoek
Estimated to be in possession of some 260 000 firearms – 12.6 arms per 100 persons – making them the 51st highest ranked in number of firearms per population – Namibians now have an opportunity to surrender all arms, ammunition or armaments contravening the Arms and Ammunition Act of 1996.
According to a notification in the Government Gazette of August 25, Police Inspector General Sebastian Ndeitunga has called on all Namibians in possession of unlicensed or illegal firearms to surrender these.
The announcement gives all persons a chance to hand in unlicensed and illegal weapons and ammunition before November 25 without the dread of being prosecuted and to avoid prosecution in future.
Yesterday, the Namibian Agricultural Union (NAU) reacted to the notification and urged all members and farmers to urgently attend to this.
Any person in possession of such items must surrender that firearm, ammunition or armament at a police station to a police officer in charge of that police station, within a period of three months from the date of publication of the August 25 notice.
This comes in the wake of a series of arrests of a number of farmers in the Otjozondjupa Region found in possession of unlicensed weapons and ammunition, resulting in a delegation of the NAU visiting the commanding structure of the police in June.
Ndeitunga has been warning for years that the country is “too armed”, that the process for obtaining arms is too lax, and that the country should quickly move to tighten the Arms and Ammunition Act of 1996.
He highlighted the fact that there are no rules banning the carrying of firearms and other weapons, such as knives, in public as particularly problematic. He also acknowledged the prevalence of cross-border trafficking of illegal arms, resulting from the region having been mired in various conflicts not long ago, particularly South Africa’s armed resistance against apartheid rule, which lasted until the early 1990s, and Angola’s civil war, which ended in 2002.
The current regulatory regime imposes a host of requirements for obtaining a firearms license. With the exception of certain limited instances, it prohibits possession of a firearm without a license.
Before a firearm license can be issued, the applicant is required to have a strongroom or other mechanism for the safekeeping of the firearm.
If a police officer, on the ground of information contained in a statement made under oath or affirmation, believes a person to be a danger to himself or others, including due to his/her recklessness in handling a firearm, mental condition, propensity towards violence, or substance abuse, that officer may initiate a process to have the person declared unfit to possess a firearm.
In addition, a person convicted of the offense of possession of a firearm without a license; an offense during the commission of which a firearm was used; or certain other offenses such as intimidation, rape, or malicious injury to property, may be declared unfit to possess arms.
The regulatory regime does not appear to require an applicant for a license to undergo a competency assessment of any kind, including for the purpose of ensuring that the applicant has had sufficient training to handle firearms, or that he/she is mentally fit.
The law allows a person to obtain a license for up to four arms at a time and permits an unlicensed person to borrow a firearm from a licensed person to whom he/she is not related for up to 21 days without permission from the authorities.
Namibia, a country of about 2.2 million people, has issued 148 000 firearms licenses since 1998.
Ndeitunga is on record saying farmers in possession of illegal firearms and ammunition are causing a national safety scare. He says it is not only of concern to the police, but citizens are also concerned about reports of people hiding arsenals of unlicensed firearms and discarded uniforms belonging to the former South West Africa Territorial Force and the feared Koevoet insurgency.
“We urge any person, in particular the farmers, to surrender those weapons because it is problem. In this world today, you have issues of terrorism. These people can be easily used by terrorists to endanger the security of the country. It is a concern to us that there are people arrested with firearms, ammunition and even uniforms. What are their strategies?” he asked.
He said according to the Arms and Ammunition Act, a person may not keep more than one firearm of the same caliber, although hunters and farmers are allowed to keep four different types of firearms. He further said a person is also not allowed to keep more than 100 bullets per firearm.
An individual is not allowed to own an assault rifle. It should only be owned by the Namibian Defence Force, the police and correctional services.