Gun owners are up in arms after a "leaked" draft of the Firearms Control Bill was released by Gun Owners South Africa.
This draft will reportedly outlaw the owning of a gun for self-defence purposes.
The police ministry and SA Police Service has neither confirmed or denied the existence of the bill and Parliament's police portfolio committee earlier said the document had not been tabled in the legislature.
African Christian Democratic Party leader Kenneth Meshoe in a statement said while his party appreciated government's efforts to restrict the use of firearms by irresponsible people, "the right to self-defence is sacrosanct".
He said with 50 to 60 murders a day in our country, or 20,000 a year, this does not paint a picture of a civilised society in a time of peace and is an extra reason not to restrict firearm licences. Licences already control ownership.
The leader of the Freedom Front Plus Pieter Groenewald said the added restrictions contained in the leaked document would promote crime.
He said people had the right to protect themselves and their families by all possible means.
The DA's Diane Kohler Barnard also took to social media following the leaked bill
Meanwhile, Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Police said it has not received any formal referral with regard to the Fire-Arms Amendment Bill from the Executive that relates to private firearm ownership.
Committee chairperson, Francois Beukman, said they approached by various stakeholders with regard to a dated internal departmental draft document proposing certain amendments to the current firearm legislation.
Beukman says the departmental processes with regard to the Fire-Arms Amendment Bill are still underway and no referral was tabled in Parliament.
-African News Agency
-additional reporting by Algoa FM News
