Have the SA regs on HUNTING handguns changed again? I was there in August and brought 2 handguns with no problem. Now I read that you are only allowed 1. Anybody have info?????? This is getting pretty ridiculous.

The law hasn't changed since August but the way they enforce it has. You're currently allowed one hunting handgun of a maximum calibre of .45 .....and no more. You're not allowed to bring in a second handgun for self defence etc.

Assuming you've booked with a competent outfitter he will keep you up to date on what you can and can't do regarding every aspect of your hunt. If your outfitter isn't competent then you should consider going elsewhere as the penalties for error in this are severe. There has been at least one case of an overseas hunter being charged with attempting to import an illegal firearm.......which was a .454 Casull. Rather than take a risk on the outcome he cancelled his hunt and flew home.

You pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

Steve, Thank You for the reply. The PH I am using alerted me to this. I think my African hunting days are over. Between the crappy Airbus planes and now this, enough is enough. SA apparently has all the money they need and don't need any more tourists $$'s.

Tembo,

don't give up on Africa it's tooooooo good!

I think the answer is just to avoid RSA until they get their shit together......there's plenty of other countries in Africa that offer good hunting and also airlines that don't use airbuses and don't use RSA as the African hub.

Steve, thanks for the advice. Having been on 3 safaris to Zim. and SA, I agree that Africa as a whole experience is without equal. It is very frustrating trying to figure out the SILLY regulations that, in my opinion, are ultimately going to ruin the safari industry. I noticed you are from South Africa. Is there or has there ever been a problem with visiting hunters and crime that would justify these regulations? For the life of me, I can't figure out why someone with a single shot hunting handgun would be treated like someone with a trunkful of AK 47's. Believe me, if one was thinking about commiting some kind of crime, a 15" Barreled large caliber single shot handgun would not be my first choice of weapons. What is it like for residents of SA as far as the gun regulations? Can you even own any type of gun anymore?

I'm actually a Brit......but I do now live in SA........The new firearms laws haven't really started to bite hard for most SA firearm owners yet, although it's hitting the dealers pretty hard........and the tourism industry a lot harder.

To the best of my knowledge there hasn't ever been any serious crime involving overseas hunters and their firearms here. However, I'm told that the intention of the new laws is to reduce firearms ownership by 70% over the next 5 years......but I've not seen anything in writing so I guess it's heresay.

As to how the laws are affecting overseas visitors, at the recent PHASA conference the Minister told the audience that they were aware of the problems caused by the new act and that the Government viewed the SA hunting industry as being racist and elitist and until they started to employ more blacks and females in leading roles in the industry we couldn't expect the Government to cut us any slack......now (IMO) they do have a point to some degree.......it's true there are very few black PHs or Outfitters in the industry here and as far as I'm concerned, I don't have a problem at all in more black people coming into the industry........BUT they must be able to do the entire job. There's more to being a good PH than just being able to hunt. A good PH also needs to be able to hold his end up at the dining table & elsewhere, talk about whatever subject the client wants to talk about including world politics and economics etc and also be able to do every job of every member of staff if necessary......and there's very few black people in SA that can do that as the vast majority simply haven't had the education to do so.

Yes we can still own firearms, but we are now somewhat limited to type and numbers...fortunately, I have a UK firearms licence so I'm in a slightly different position to most.