Competency tests for gun owners

In South Africa you must apply for a license to own a gun:

…one must pass a written “competency test.” The South African constitution recognizes 11 official languages, but the test is only given in two of them, Afrikaans and English. Imagine if your gun ownership rights depended on passing a written test in a language you could not read!

And people wonder why we resist such things in this country.

It gets worse:

Applicants are not issued licenses if they are deemed to be at risk of becoming violent. As enforced in South Africa, this could simply mean that a person was divorced, separated or fired within the past two years.

Processing of applications is very slow. For example, of the applications submitted in 2006, only about a quarter have been fully processed.

Licenses are valid for two, five or 10 years, depending on the legal category of the license, so keeping a gun can mean staying on a near-constant treadmill of paperwork, fees and uncertainty. The majority of the 2005 applicants, who are supposed to renew in 2010, are still waiting for a decision on their 2005 applications.

Women are particularly hard hit (pun intended):

Married women who want guns for protection are told that their husbands will protect them—as if South African woman should behave like Taliban wives, and never leave the home except with their husbands. People who live in high crime areas are told that the police will protect them—except that the police obviously don’t, as South Africa is one of the most crime-ridden countries in the world.

Of course such high restrictions has created a black market with the attendant crime and corruption. It’s no different than the prohibitions in this country against recreational drugs and alcohol in the last century.

Once we have our rights well secured in this country we should start putting pressure on other countries to recognize the natural right to keep and bear arms.

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3 thoughts on “Competency tests for gun owners

  1. Of course I am risk of becoming violent. A weapon is a tool. I don’t purchase tools I for which I do not perceive a need.

    Translation: If need arises, I will be violent and use any weapon at hand to defend myself, my family or the innocent stranger from any sort of murderous thug who makes his intentions clear.

    I don’t aim to misbehave, but I am able to do so.

  2. Here’s the deal: I will take a competency test to own / carry / whatever a gun, if our politicians will take a competency test on the constitution.

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