Gun ban

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March Fianza

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet - Last week, cops from the Police Regional Office Cordillera (PROCOR) arrested two gun-for-hire bosses and one of their members for possessing illegal firearms, explosives and ammunition in Abra by virtue of search warrant.

The guns and ammos confiscated from the suspects were a hand grenade, a caliber .22 revolver without serial number, a Smith & Wesson Caliber .38 revolver without serial number, live ammunitions for several calibers, an improvised caliber 5.56 MM pistol with five empty shells.

At the onset of the election period on January 13, 2019, the police arrested four violators of the election gun ban in the provinces of Kalinga and Abra.

In the 2013 election, implementation of the Commission on Election gun ban resulted to the arrest of 883 persons and confiscation of 692 firearms. In the 2016 elections, the number of firearms confiscated, recovered, or surrendered reached 3,527.

In a column many years ago, I said the loose firearms today were the guns seized yesterday. While authorities make arrests and confiscations, the total gun ban measure that comes out before every election cannot be implemented consistently and honestly.

As an initial step to stop the spread of loose firearms, government might ponder on stopping the issuance of licenses so that gun stores will practically close shop and the guns for sale will be inventoried, properly receipted and temporarily kept in government-accredited depositories for safekeeping.

The expected result is for both licensed and unlicensed firearms not to be brought out. Guns owned by private persons will be kept in the house and only law enforcers and enlisted military personnel will be the ones seen carrying firearms.

When then President Marcos as Commander-in-Chief of the AFP and the Philippine Constabulary declared Martial Law in 1972, he issued a stern warning for known owners of unlicensed and licensed guns to turn-over their pieces to the nearest police detachment for safekeeping, or else face the consequences of an unceremonial house to house search.

For fear of being raided and getting killed in the process, many law-abiding gun owners surrendered their guns to Camp Holmes (now Camp Dangwa). But after Martial Law was lifted in 1981, the guns were never returned to their owners because the items were no longer there.

Apparently, the firearms were taken or stolen by the men tasked to “safekeep” them. That is why I said the guns that were confiscated during Martial Law for “safekeeping” are today’s loose firearms.

It looks like the culture of losing confiscated items has become part of a faulty system in police agencies. We know that confiscated drugs and carnap vehicles get lost while in the hands of the police. Eventually, these items return to the streets where they were confiscated. The drugs are resold while the cars are sold to innocent buyers.

               Recall that in the Atimonan, Quezon rubout of personalities allegedly involved in jueteng and illegal gambling in 2013, it turned out that the SUVs that were riddled with bullets were alleged to be carnap vehicles.

Same thing with guns. These are confiscated, get lost during safekeeping and resold to whoever buys them. Most probably, these will end up in the armory of a politician warlord or a gambling lord.

The guns may also end up in the armory of police officials who are in cahoots with carnappers and gun-for-hire characters. When government soldiers staged a coup in 2005, they complained about corrupt AFP generals who have been selling government guns and ammo to their enemies in war-torn Mindanao.

As proof to what they were griping about, it was discovered in the investigations following the Maguindanao massacre that the firearms hurriedly buried in the estate of the Ampatuans bore serial numbers belonging to guns issued to the AFP.

Under a total gun ban atmosphere, only law enforcement personnel will be allowed to carry government issued licensed firearms. Although, there are PNP and AFP men who possess unlicensed guns, despite being issued their official firearms.

In 2013, the PNP estimated that around 530,000 loose firearms have yet to be accounted for before the implementation of the election gun ban during that election year.  The number only included licensed guns that were not renewed, but did not include smuggled and unregistered firearms.

Luckily, despite the presence of loose firearms in this country, there are no reported mass killings by gun-wielding nuts, as compared to the US that had 1,042 mass killings since 2012. For 2013 alone, 353 mass killings was reported in the US.

In all the developed world, the United States has the most liberal laws on gun ownership. In fact, the right to keep and own firearms is enshrined in the second amendment of the US constitution.

It is therefore not surprising that it has also the worst gun violence in the whole industrialized world and the highest gun ownership in the world. The Philippines meanwhile, is one country that has the strictest gun laws in the world. It is difficult to own and license a firearm and much harder to get a permit to carry the firearm outside one’s residence.

Actually, carrying a low caliber bullet can land one in jail for six years. This is one of the reasons why the extortion industry of “tanim-bala” (bullet planting) to extort money from unsuspecting travelers has been going on for years.

But going back to the issue of gun ownership in the country, the police estimated that there are more than 600,000 loose firearms in the country. This figure was arrived at by counting the number of gun owners who failed to renew their licenses.

Although arguably, these firearms are technically not loose in the sense that the location of the firearms are known. Loose firearms are those that cannot be accounted for in the files of the police. The latest estimate is that there are over a million of these loose firearms all over the country.

Proof of this is that almost all gun deaths are caused by untraceable firearms. Also, daily news never fails to mention the number of people getting killed by firearms every day. Police reports do not say how many people get killed by the use of firearms but the figure may be close or even more than the US figure.

There is a distinction between the number of homicide and murder. But if we were to add both, it would show that even with very strict gun ownership laws, it is not a guarantee to a more peaceful country. Maybe the trick is to have simpler rules that can be implemented properly and efficiently.

Complicated rules only make it difficult for responsible gun owners to comply and would only benefit the criminal who does not want his gun to be registered. In this age of terrorism, government must make sure that by strictly implementing the gun ban law, it must see to it that law-abiding citizens have the means to protect themselves.