2005 Volume 2
Judge Shoots Down Gun Licence
The Pretoria News April 26, 2005
By Zelda Venter
A director of the Ocean Basket restaurant chain, Peter Lazarides, who is a keen gun collector, has lost a bid in the Pretoria High Court to obtain a licence for his 74th firearm.
Lazarides, of Lynnwood, wanted to obtain a licence for his .50 Browning Musgrave rifle, a collector’s item. The chairman of the Firearms Appeal Board declined the licence.
Lazarides said he collected various handguns and guns of a military nature. He was issued with a certificate by the police according to which he was recognised as a collector of firearms. He had 73 firearm licences, including licences for machine-guns. Most of his firearms were of military origin.
Lazarides set out the safety measures he has in place at his home to safeguard his collection.
He said he was interested in the Musgrave because of its make and calibre. He said the manufacturer went out of business and a firearm bearing the Musgrave name would never again be manufactured.
The court heard that the National Commissioner of Police refused him a licence and his appeal failed on the grounds that ”it was not in the interest of the safety and security of people in South Africa that firearms of this nature be made available to individuals in this country”.
The Appeal Board told Lazarides that civilians were not statutorily prohibited from possessing this type of firearm. The Deputy Minister of Safety and Security, however, agreed with the policy that civilians should not be allowed to possess a .50BMG calibre rifle.
Counsel for Lazarides objected to this and submitted that only Parliament could prohibit a specified firearm. The court heard Lazarides had been given an import permit and a licence for a .55 anti-tank rifle which had a bigger calibre and was more powerful than the .50 Browning for which he was seeking a licence.
Acting Judge Mahomed Ismail said the suggestion that the applicant had previously been granted a licence for a more powerful weapon than the one in question did not hold credence: ”On this logic it would imply that the commissioner is duty bound to issue every licence the applicant would apply for in view of his having been granted a licence for a bigger calibre firearm.”
The judge said if this was the case, then the commissioner, once he had issued more than one licence to an applicant, would merely be rubber-stamping subsequent applications to possess firearms.
”Logic and common sense suggest the commissioner must apply his discretion to each application whether that person applied for his first or 74th licence,” he said.