South Sudan parliament sat Monday after nearly four weeks of having no sitting over disagreements on what agenda should be put before parliamentarians.
The sitting chaired by the Deputy Speaker Mark Nyipoch discussed a joint report of the specialized standing committee for Defence, security and public order and the committee of legislation and justice on the Firearms Bill 2016.
The report was presented by the chairperson of the security committee Samuel Duwar Deng Duwar.
He said the two committees met and studied and considered the firearms control bill 2015 in the framework of regional, international legal mechanism and best practices.
Duwar added that the bill was committed for further public hearing drawing inputs from countries such as Sudan, Kenya and Uganda among others. The bill is aimed at creating a legal framework and administrative structures for firearms and their control.
The bill contains ten chapters regarding registry of firearms, public warehouse to be established, eligibility to possess firearms, firearms licence for trade, private security companies, temporary permits for hunting or sports, government agencies responsibility for firearms control, and marketing of firearms.
100 members of the house attended the sitting where 33 voted for continuation of the debate on the firearms bill, 54 voted for the termination of the debate and 13 abstained.
The bill was passed to the fourth reading. No date was set for when the bill will come back to the house.