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Holders of unlicenced firearms, including firearms with expired licences, and those hanging on to dubious weapons should take advantage of the new firearms amnesty to get themselves cleaned up with zero comeback and zero criminal charges.
Last year, the amnesty collected 580 firearms, although a surprisingly paltry 260 rounds of ammunition, and those who handed them in must have breathed a big sigh of relief that they no longer risked arrest and imprisonment, and no longer had to worry that someone might steal the weapons.
The Government and police were happy, since a reasonable slice of the firearms without valid and current licences were removed from circulation or potential circulation and were no longer going to end up with criminal gangs.
These firearms come from many sources. One of the largest must be possessions of family members who have died. Very few people know what to do when they go through a relative’s belongings and find a firearm, which may or may not be licenced and the licence may not be easy to find even if the gun was legal.
Often the licence holder would have been old or ill for some time before the final fatal illness, and so allowed the licence to expire having other things to think about, and so the relatives have the extra problem of a gun with no current licence. Executors rarely know how to handle this, and who to turn to for advice.
It is only in the last couple of years that the police have made things a lot easier, telling the relatives to hand in the weapons for safekeeping at their local police station, and then do the necessary legal work via the executor so that the weapon can be sold, or inherited if the heir can obtain their own licence.
Other firearms were bought years ago for reasons that are no longer valid, and the licence had been allowed to expire without the weapon being sold while there was till time. Once again, as in many estates, there is now a licence that may have expired years ago and a worried holder. While the 580 firearms surrendered under amnesty last year was a respectable total, it was probably only a very modest fraction of the total number that should be handed in.
Obviously criminals are not going to hand in their firearms, but there must still be plenty of otherwise law-abiding families and people who need to dig out the dubious firearms and hand them over. The sooner they are out of circulation the better.
One factor that bothered police last year was the small quantity of ammunition handed over. Usually ammunition and firearms are kept together, and the fact that a lot of firearms were handed in without ammunition means there are a lot of rounds unaccounted for.
Some may have been thrown away, others given away and some possibly sold. While police accepting amnesty firearms can ask questions, and do ask questions, the very fact that they are administrating an amnesty means that there are limits.
But they can warn those handing in firearms that if they find additional rounds, or any rounds, of ammunition they should bring those in as well, and in any case could they have a good look.
The police have said they are prepared to search premises after the amnesty where they suspect there could be unlicenced firearms, but they will be hampered by the lack of easy access to licencing records.
Firearm licencing seems to be one of the areas that needs to move up the priority ladder for digital Government records, so there is an easy access central registry of firearms and one that will automatically produce lists of expired and non-renewed licences.
This could be implemented fairly quickly as all new firearm owners need to buy a licence before taking delivery of a firearm, and licences need to be renewed every three years.
As the database is created the software could easily produce a weekly list of firearm owners who have not renewed a licence, and that should be followed up by a visit from the police.
Fining the delinquent owner, and impounding the firearm while everything is checked out, should follow along with an assessment as to whether the owner is a suitable person to own a gun.
We could also tighten up on issuing firearms licences. While there is no constitutional right to own a firearm in Zimbabwe, the law seeing a licence as a privilege not a right, it is not that difficult for someone with no criminal record and having a sports need or a business need to be granted a licence.
Where problems can arise is that the gun owner does not really know how to use the firearm, let alone how to use it safely, and may not be fanatical about locking it up when not in use.
It would be easy for gun clubs to offer courses, and certificates, and for the police to demand a description and picture of the sort of cupboard or safe where the firearm will be kept. Thefts of firearms are rising and people need to ensure that this becomes more difficult.
We hear of firearms kept in a car glove box or just left on a bedside table unattended and the like, easy pickings for any casual thief. And every theft creates an unlicensed firearm that no one is going to hand in during an amnesty.
We have to wait until police catch a robber or worse waving a gun around before we can start accounting for these. But limiting the source of stolen firearms through better security would help.
We perhaps need to formalise in law the requirement that relatives of deceased firearms owners must hand in the guns to a police station, but couple this with what amounts to a permanent amnesty that expired licences and even missing licences will not lead to charges against the family so long as the recent death certificate accompanies the firearm.
Online Reporter