Firearms for a security business

Who may hold a business licence

Section 20(2) lets the Registrar issue a firearm licence for business purposes to a security company, a person accredited to provide firearms training, a person accredited to supply firearms for theatrical, film or television productions, an accredited game hunter, a person accredited to conduct a hunting business, and anyone else accredited to use firearms for a business purpose the Registrar determines.

The licence itself must specify the business purpose it was issued for, and section 20(4) says the firearm may only be used as specified in the licence. A firearm licensed to your guarding operation is not available for a director's weekend at the range.

Any firearm other than a prohibited firearm can be licensed this way. Prohibited firearms are only licensed under section 20 for theatrical, film and television use, and then only with the Registrar's prior written approval.

Who may actually carry the firearm

Section 20(5)(b) is the rule that ties the two regulators together, and it is worth quoting in substance: a security company holding a business firearm licence may only provide that firearm to a security officer in its service who holds a competency certificate.

Read that carefully, because it contains three separate tests. The person must be a security officer. They must be in your service. And they must personally hold a competency certificate issued under the Firearms Control Act.

Competency is not the same thing as a PSiRA grade. A Grade C officer with years of service and no competency certificate may not be handed a company firearm, and no amount of in-house training substitutes for it. Under section 10(2) competency lapses five years from issue, so an officer who was properly competent when you hired them may not be now.

The register, storage and transport

Section 20(6) puts two standing obligations on every business licence holder. You must keep a register of all firearms in your possession containing the prescribed information, and you must store and transport those firearms as prescribed.

Section 20(7) then makes the register useful to somebody other than you: at the request of a police official, the holder of a licence must produce for inspection any firearm and ammunition in its possession or under its control, and every licence issued under the section. An inspection is not the moment to discover that the register was last updated two years ago.

A workable register tracks, for each firearm, the make, model and serial number, its licence number and expiry date, which officer it is issued to and when, the competency certificate number of that officer and its expiry, and every movement in and out of the safe. Build it so that a police official can read it without you narrating.

The two year clock

Section 27 sets the validity of a section 20 business licence at two years for any business other than hunting. A hunting business gets five. Every security company is on the two year cycle.

Section 24(1) requires the renewal application at least 90 days before expiry. Lodge it in time and section 24(4) keeps the licence valid until the Registrar decides, however long that takes. Lodge it late and there is no such protection: the licence simply expires, and every firearm covered by it becomes an unlicensed firearm in your safe.

With a two year cycle and a 90 day lead, you are effectively preparing a renewal every twenty one months. Put it in a calendar the day the licence is issued, not the year it expires. PSiRA also charges its own firearm licence fee of R90 per licence recorded with the Authority, which is separate from anything SAPS charges.

Two more 30 day duties apply to business licences exactly as they do to private ones. Section 25 requires written notice to the Registrar of a change of address within 30 days, which for a company means every time you move premises. Section 26 requires the same within 30 days of any change to information submitted with the application, which includes changes in the people running the business.

Ammunition and parts

The 200 cartridge limit in section 91 applies per licensed firearm, so a business holding twenty licensed firearms is working to a different total than a private owner, but to the same rule per firearm. Ammunition bought and discharged at an accredited shooting range falls outside the limit, which matters for training days.

Section 94 restricts possession of a "firearm part", defined as a slide, bolt or breech-block. A business may hold parts if it holds a licence for a firearm capable of bearing them, or holds a dealer's, manufacturer's or gunsmith's licence, an import, export or in-transit permit, or a transporter's permit. Holders of those licences and permits must also keep a prescribed register of all firearm parts in their possession.

Importing, exporting and transporting

Import and export. Sections 73 and 74 govern bringing firearms and ammunition into or out of the country. An import, export or in-transit permit may be issued to a person who is a fit and proper person to hold one, and unless the Registrar directs otherwise in writing, no permit may be issued for firearms or ammunition that do not bear the prescribed identification marks. Section 77 makes the permit itself a licence to possess the firearm or ammunition it covers, so you are not licensed twice.

In transit. Section 73(2) prohibits carrying firearms or ammunition in transit through South Africa without an in-transit permit. This catches shipments that are only passing through.

Transporting for reward. Section 86 requires a firearm transporter's permit before any person transports firearms or ammunition for reward. If you move other people's firearms as a service rather than your own between your own sites, this is a separate permit and not something your business licence covers.

Equipment that is not a firearm has its own import rules, which have nothing to do with SAPS. Our import and export code service and the trade compliance service deal with customs codes, ITAC permits and NRCS approvals for imported equipment.

A practical compliance file

If an inspector arrives tomorrow, these are the things you want in one place: your PSiRA business registration certificate and current annual fee receipt, every section 20 firearm licence with its expiry date, the firearms register, a competency certificate and PSiRA registration for every officer who handles a firearm, the safe custody arrangements, and your import or transporter permits where they apply.

Most operators have all of it. Very few have it in one place with the expiry dates visible, which is the difference between a short inspection and a long one.

Frequently asked questions