Cape Town - The police are looking at ways to ban imitation guns which they say are prevalent in the province.
Provincial police commissioner Thembisile Patekile has been outspoken about seeking changes to the legislation.
“Replica guns are a problem because house robberies, hijacking and even rape incidents, and other heinous crimes, criminals are using fake guns that people think are real guns.
“We call them blank guns, they are used in the film industry and elsewhere. They look like real guns and they sound the same, when a person fires you would think it is a real gun.
“This is problematic for us, but remember you don’t need a license to own that gun, you can buy it over the counter.
“What we would like to see now is legislation that talks to banning these guns, because lives are at stake. These guns are used for many criminal activities and we are confiscating a number of them. If we arrest someone with them, we take the guns to our forensic lab and test if it is a real gun or not.”
Patekile said though these guns are not illegal but may not be used for criminal activities.
“Some of them have been turned into real things. It is not illegal to possess those types of guns, but if you use them in the commission of a crime then we will charge you for possession of an illegal firearm and for the crime you committed.
“We could even look into the Firearms Control Act to ban these things. In the Western Cape they are prevalent, when we do a stop and search in hotspot areas, you will find a lot of these guns but sometimes it is difficult to prosecute anyone for possessing a replica unless a crime has been committed.”
But Cape Flats crime fighter Lynn Phillips asked how long would changing the legislation take and the possibility of it.
“The question to SAPS is how would they outlaw these guns as legislation should be put in place and even with a normal firearm but are the law enforcers really making use of the legislation as we really need stronger measures and laws with regards to guns, imitation gun usage and their sales.
“I want to indicate that these gangsters are very sophisticated, they make imitation guns of various equipment, that is the silicon gun as these guns have a trigger they are so sophisticated that they even take casings and fill them with explosives and use that as a bullet or use hard cardboard and make bullets
“They also use real ammunition as they will use any tool to make an imitation gun.
“My view is that with the knowledge that gangsters have, they should be used in a positive manner as they are skilled but unfortunately using their skills in a very negative way.”
Portfolio Committee on Police chairperson Ian Cameron said replica guns are usually not altered but are certainly a cause for concern as they look exactly like the real thing and sound like it too.
“I have no direct objection on them being better regulated (banned might be a bit drastic)
“But, I am concerned that that will be a massive focus while real illicit guns (not the ones of lawfully armed citizens) guns are a far bigger problem.”
In the most recent incident in Sea Point the City Improvement District arrested two suspects who tried to rob a motorist with a firearm.
When the team caught the suspects it was determined that the suspects had threatened the driver with what appeared to be a firearm during the robbery attempt.
The suspects were detained, and SAPS, along with Law Enforcement, responded promptly to arrest them. The firearm was later identified as an imitation.