'Dysfunctional' Central Firearms Registry ‘needs reloading'
Gun Free South Africa believes the time has come to outsource the running of the police's Central Firearms Registry.
The lobby group says the current firearm registry is dysfunctional.
It recently instituted a class action lawsuit against the minister of police on behalf of the victims of crimes committed by stolen police firearms.
Researcher at the Gunfree South Africa Claire Taylor says the registry is beset by problems such as corruption and inefficiency.
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She admits privatising a central firearms registry is not commonly done.
"It is also a real risk that privatising will result in a focus on profit rather than public safety. The second option is to devolve the function so that other government departments and not the police is responsible for managing the registry.
"South Africa, with high levels of corruption and low levels of capacity is also a risk. A third option is that an independent authority is established that reports to police, and that seems to be the most feasible option."
