By Neo Kolane
The Firearm Dealers Association of Lesotho and the Firearm Competency Association of Lesotho have welcomed a new requirement by police that all prospective gun owners should have a competence certificate before they can be issued with a firearm.
The organisations said they however, feel that the timing was not right and would affect their operations in the short term.
The new requirement comes after the Lesotho Mounted Police Services’ (LMPS) last week lifted the suspension of firearms sales and licensing.
The ban had been in force since December 29, 2022.
“All people who were given permits to buy but have not yet bought any firearms, are asked to go to the LMPS headquarters with their permits to be inspected and be given a new stamp.
“During that inspection, if a permit is found to have been issued erroneously, it will be withdrawn,” the LMPS statement read, as it urged firearm dealers to only accept permits with new stamps.
However, the two organisations are not too impressed with the introduction of a competency certificate.
The public relations officer of the Firearm Dealers Association of Lesotho, Rorisang Khotle, told this publication that a competency certificate is issued by the LMPS. The document declares a person competent and fit to handle a firearm, and is a prerequisite to applying for a firearm license.
Khotle recently told theReporter that gun violence in Lesotho is a result of people getting firearms without prior training, and that this violence had nothing to do with the legal issuance of guns.
The owner of Rugged Lava Arms Pvt (Ltd), Peete Sekhonyane, this week said the introduction of a competency certificate would affect his business.
Sekhonyane also noted that despite the lifting of the ban, he is still not selling because he is waiting for people with competency certificates; this has rendered his business stagnant.
“Competency is a good thing; we have been proposing it for a while, but it needs time. One cannot just wake up and enforce it,” he said.
The chairperson of the Firearm Competency Association of Lesotho, Khobelwayo Mlotshwa, divulged that the organisation has always been issuing competency certificates informally.
However, Mlotshwa said they have been calling for proper training. “LMPS should not give people licenses without proper training in the first place,” he said.
He opined that the bad handling of guns in Lesotho is due to competency certificates not being issued in the past.
Mlotshwa further applauded the government for the introduction of competency certificates, adding that Lesotho was the only country in the world that did not require such a certificate.
“As the association, we do not know yet who is going to issue the certificate – LMPS or gun training institutions. In other countries, the competency certificate is issued by a shooting range or a training institution.
“LMPS issues a permit; a competency certificate is not a firearm permit,” he explained.
A source at LMPS attested that a competency certificate is a new requirement for issuance of a firearm license, but is still on ice for reasons he was not aware of.
He did not know who issues the certificate, but advised people to go to the nearest police stations for detailed information and guidelines.
