The only way you can legally sell a gun is to either sell it to a gun dealer or sell it privately, but you may not hand it to a new owner until that person has a licence for the weapon in question.

In order to have your firearm destroyed, you should undertake the following steps:

  1. Make photocopies of the licence of the firearm you wish to have destroyed for your own records.
  2. Go to your nearest police station during normal office hours taking your firearm and original licence with you.
  3. Complete the SAPS522A and SAPS522 B forms below. Both forms can also be downloaded from the www.saps.gov.za website.
  4. State that you wish the firearm to be destroyed.
  5. Obtain the following from the police officer assisting you:
    1. A copy of the SAPS forms for your records.
    2. The police officer’s rank, name and force number.
    3. A contact number to follow up on the removal of the firearm from your/ licence holder’s name.
    4. The SAPS 13 reference number for the firearm you have handed in. This number is the reference number for every piece of property/ evidence handed in to the police station. It consists of the name of the police station/ then SAPS 522/ then a sequential number/ year. Once a gun is officially registered as being in the custody of a police store, it will not easily disappear out of the back door, which is the anxiety of many people handing a firearm in for destruction.
    5. A receipt for the firearm.
  6. Wait for one month and then confirm with the National Head Office, Statutory Administration that the firearm has been removed from your name in the Central Firearms Register. The telephone number is: (012) 353 6111, postal address: Private Bag X811, Pretoria, 0001.
  7. If the gun has not yet been removed from your name, contact the police officer that helped you in the first place. Please note that the destruction of an individual firearm may take some time because it has to be sent to Logistics in Pretoria for melting or cutting into pieces.
  8. If, after two months, your firearm has still not been removed from your name, you should inform the Station Commissioner. You could also contact GFSA for help.
  9. If you have recently inherited a gun from a deceased state, but that gun has not yet been licensed in your name, you can do all of the above, but you will need to take to the police station a letter from the executor confirming that you are the heir to the firearm in question. If the deceased died intestate or the inheritance is to be divided between a number of heirs you might have to sell the gun and put the proceeds into the estate. You need the advice of your attorney and the executor in this case.

DOWNLOADS

SAPS: Surrendering of firearm – SAPS522A

SAPS: Forfeiture of firearm – SAPS522B

 

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