Vol 15-06

NHSA Newsletter

VOL. 15 (06) - 21-02-2019

Policy Document:

Age Restrictions for Completion of Dedicated Status Course with NHSA

Sections 6 and 9(5) of the Firearms Control Act (FCA – Act 60 of 2000), as well as Regulations 13 & 14 of the same Act allows for a person to apply to be declared competent to own firearms when s/he is still under 21 years of age. 

The FCA states that the Registrar of the Central Firearms Registry (CFR) may declare a person competent before the age of 21 if there are compelling reasons why such a person must be awarded competency.  

Compelling reasons may include the fact that the applicant conducts a business, is gainfully employed, a dedicated hunter, a dedicated sports person or a private collector.

A person under the age of 21 years may thus apply to be declared competent to own a firearm, if s/he holds either dedicated hunter or dedicated sport person status with an accredited association, such as NHSA.

With regards to the above, NHSA will, with cognisance of our responsibility towards SAPS and the FCA and because we need a “paper trail” why we allow under-aged members under the age of 16 to complete dedicated status courses, allow younger members to complete the dedicated sport-person course under the following circumstances:

1. Members under the age of 16 years: only in exceptional instances where such a member has at least some form of proven record of participation in sport shooting competitions on club or higher level, and then only to complete the dedicated sport-person course.  A short, written request by the parent or guardian explaining why the member must do the course to be sent per Email to [email protected];

The key to these applications is responsibility towards firearm ownership as dictated by the FCA.  As an accredited association we have a responsibility towards SAPS and the Law-Maker to be responsible when presenting dedicated status courses to our members.

That said, we will approve reasonable and responsible requests, as we believe our young people must shoot responsibly.  We also understand that it is not always possible for parents who are the legal firearm owners used by our young people, to accompany young ones to all places where tournaments are held, or to conduct hunting related responsibilities on family owned game farms / ranches.

BY ORDER OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

21 FEBRUARY 2019