Firearm Surrender

It's been on my mind for quite some time now; ever since I watched Bowling for Columbine by Michael Moore: surrender my handgun to the police for destruction. It's an option being offered with the change in firearm legislation in South Africa. The other options were to renew my licence by having to re-take the written and practical exam, or make the handgun in-operable through the services of a registered gunsmith.

With the cut-off date for exercising my option past due, I decided to visit a plice station today in Linden to find out the procedure for surrendering the handgun. My main concern was assuming I did hand over the firearm, what guarentee would I have that the handgun would indeed be destroyed and not fall into criminal hands, and be used at some later date in a criminal act. The SA Police are notoriously inept and do not enjoy the trust of the South African public. I posed these concerns to the officer on duty, and he could neither produce a documented procedure for the destruction of firearms, nor allay my fears in terms of the firearm falling into the wrong hands. All the process allowed him to do was to provide me with a receipt indicating that I handed the weapon in, and no proof would be furnished that it was actually destroyed.

Now you will appreciate, that this makes it difficult for a person to surrender a dangerous weapon, and not know what will become of it, especially given the circumstances under which the country finds itself in today - that of rampant lawlessness. I want to make a difference and do my bit to reverse this situation, and it would be great if I can help by ensuring one less firearm in circulation, but the police are not making it any easier. What should I do? I'll sleep on it for a while...