Boer, Martin. 2004 ‘Number of Registered Firearms and of Licensed Firearm Owners.’ Hide and Seek: Taking Account of Small Arms in Southern Africa, pp. 118-119. Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies. 1 October

Relevant contents

According to a statement by the Namibian Police at the National Conference on Small Arms there were 95,280 firearms in the country, held by 38,407 licence holders. This meant that each licenced owner possessed an average of 2.49 firearms.(10)

On 1 January 2004, the police national database contained entries for 97,262 firearm licences, divided into the following categories: Business, Embassy, Government, Private, Security Companies, Gunsmiths and
Dealers (see Table 5.1)…

There are two databases in which information about firearm licences are captured, one which was in existence prior to 1998 and one which was established in 1998. The pre-1998 database recorded a total of 128,207 firearms. The Namibian Police Force estimates that about 80% to 85% of these old database records have been re-registered on the new database.

It is probable that the actual number of licenced firearms in Namibia is less than indicated because the database includes the double counting of firearm licences that occur when a firearm changes hands legitimately. That is, the licence of the previous owner remains on the database while the new licence for the same firearm is added.

In addition, temporary firearm licences, which are issued to foreigners residing temporarily in Namibia, mainly visiting hunters, are not removed from the database when the person leaves the country, or when the licence becomes invalid.

Source:

10) SaferAfrica and Saferworld, Conference Report, "First National Conference on Small Arms and Light Weapons in Support of the Implementation of the SADC Protocol on Firearms and Ammunition Conference on Small Arms", South Africa, 2002. p78.

Last accessed at:
http://www.issafrica.org/pubs/Books/Hide+Seek/Contents.htm