The government is set to tighten firearms regulations, introducing stricter measures to ensure public safety.
These changes include mandatory training and psychological evaluations for license applicants, age restrictions, firearm profiling for traceability, and harsher penalties for offenses
“The amendments will also seek, among other things, to introduce psychological and training tests before one is issued with a firearm certificate and place an age restriction on the possession of firearms,” said Minister Muswere.
Zimbabwe’s Firearms Act is getting a major overhaul. The updated law will limit the number of firearms an individual can own, create profiles for all firearms to ensure easy identification and tracing, and establish penalties for firearm-related offenses, including failing to secure firearms properly.
“It is not consistent with the current trends. Some of the terms in that Act are not consistent with what is obtaining at the moment and some new firearms are not defined in the old Act. There are also a lot of gaps that we’ve identified,” Minister Kazembe said.
He stated that Zimbabwe is a signatory to a number of international protocols and treaties, so the law must be linked with those conventions. Under existing law, a 16-year-old can possess a firearm, a position that the government wishes to change.
“We believe a 16-year-old is not mature enough to be in possession of a gun so we need to up that age to a certain acceptable age. We are thinking of 21 years,” Minister Kazembe said.
