RSA Gun Regs

The big news in South Africa is the move underway there to tighten gun regulations in ways that may make it more difficult to go there to hunt. Here at The Hunting Report we had just gotten a copy of the proposed 68-page gun law at press time and were still analyzing it. If you'd like to see a copy yourself, you can download it from the web at www.shooting-online. co.za/legislation. We've also posted it on our own website, www. HuntingReport.com. Of more immediate concern, London firearms courier James Pedder of Safari Services International called at press time to tell us that South African customs officials had already attempted to enforce new restrictions on two recent birdshooting clients of his who arrived with fairly large numbers of shotguns. The clients were told it was unlawful to bring more than two guns into the country. Moreover, the two guns had to be of different calibers. In other words, it was lawful to bring a .270 and a .375, but not two .375s. Similarly, a 20 gauge and 12 gauge shotgun would be lawful, but not two 12 gauge shotguns. Additionally, Pedder says the clients were told that a maximum of 100 rounds of ammunition per gun was permitted in the country. We pass this information along as we received it, and we do not doubt that Pedder's clients had problems with customs officials. The problem with all this is, there are no restrictions like this on the books - at least not yet. We have that directly from Paula McGehee of PHASA, who verified that with an official at the Central Firearms Registry on August 2. Our advice...? If you are a US citizen, read and heed what we have to say on page three about exporting guns from the US and proceed as usual with your plans to visit South Africa. Longer term (that is, several months in the future), there may be greater mischief in the works. Stay tuned.

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