JOHANNESBURG – In his Olympic year, Oscar Pistorius steadily became an avid firearms collector, joining a gun-collecting club and purchasing a collection of firearms that included a .500 Magnum pistol and a civilian version of a military assault rifle.
At the end of 2012, in the first blush of his romance with Reeva Steenkamp, the model he later allegedly shot and killed, Pistorius got deeper into his hobby.
It was known that Pistorius liked guns but only now is it becoming clear the extent to which he became a firearms aficionado.
John Beare is vice chairman of the Lowveld Firearm Collectors Association, which accepted Pistorius as a member last April. He and Pistorius were introduced at a Johannesburg hotel in January 2012, and it was there that Beare first explained to the athlete and some of his friends how to become certified gun collectors.
Had he not become a collector, Pistorius would under South African law have been limited to a maximum of four firearms for self-defense, of which only two could have been handguns.
Pistorius made no secret of his passion for firearms. Reporters who visited him at home in Pretoria saw the pistol he kept by his bed. He practiced at firing ranges both in South Africa and in Europe, where he trained for the London Olympic Games. But apparently less well-known was his involvement with gun collectors to start building a firearms collection.
Beare said he twice observed Pistorius shoot at firing ranges and also at a clay pigeon shoot, but saw nothing to suggest he could be a menace with a gun.
Pistorius says he mistook Steenkamp for a home intruder and shot her while she was in the bathroom, firing through the closed door. Pistorius’ license for the 9 mm pistol was issued on Sept. 10, 2010. It was registered for self-defense.
Prosecutors have charged Pistorius with premeditated murder for killing Steenkamp with three of four shots fired in the early hours of Feb. 14.
Roberto Siriu, president of the Tolmezzo shooting range in northeast Italy, said Pistorius did not seem to him to be well-trained with firearms.
Pistorius shot at Tolmezzo during breaks from athletic training in the nearby town of Gemona. In November 2011, Pistorius posted a photo of himself firing a rifle at Tolmezzo, with the words: “Had a 96% headshot over 300m from 50shots! Bam!”
Last June, Pistorius tweeted that he was going back to Tolmezzo to shoot vintage rifles, adding, “Amped to the max! Yeaaah boi!!”
Gun collecting is regulated by South Africa’s stringent Firearms Control Act. Pistorius had to explain to his collecting association, both in writing and in interviews, what types of firearms he wanted to collect and why.
Beare said he and two other association members interviewed Pistorius in June or July 2012, shortly before he became the first double-amputee Olympic runner. “He was still budding at that stage. He had done his research on it and he was interested in American firearms,” Beare said.
The association certified Pistorius as a beginner collector. Pistorius bought two Smith & Wesson revolvers and three shotguns and sent photos of the firearms and their serial numbers to the association, as required.
But Pistorius could not take actual physical possession of his firearms because he didn’t have police-issued licenses for them. So the weapons were kept for safekeeping by a gun dealer. At firing ranges, Pistorius used other people’s guns.
Pistorius eventually applied for the licenses in January, according to the National Firearms Center. It listed his weapons as:
A Smith & Wesson model 500. With a caliber of .500 Magnum, it is called “the most powerful production revolver in the world” by its manufacturer. Pistorius was “quite fascinated” with that particular weapon, Beare said.
A Smith & Wesson .38-caliber revolver.
Three shotguns: a Mossberg, a Maverick and a Winchester, all American makes.
A Vektor .223-caliber rifle.
The current status of those applications is unclear.
For civilian collectors, the Vektor is the closest they can get to the assault rifles used by South Africa’s military. For civilian use, the rifle is modified to make it only semiautomatic. Because it is classed as a restricted weapon, Pistorius had to upgrade his status from a beginner to a more serious collector.
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