Armscor Shooting Ranges, Inc.
News & Events
Thoughts on Gun Laws and Why a Gun Ban is Uncalled For
by Bob Sajot
May 31, 2010
We, the responsible, legitimate gun owners of this land have been given the privilege to own and carry guns for our protection. The PNP, and in essence the government, is telling us that the police cannot protect us from the evils around us so they give us this consolation. It’s a good thing too. A win-win situation. Since the police cannot take away the guns from the bad guys, they let us have our own guns to protect ourselves. An equalizer if you may, and an effective one up to a certain point.
Come election time we are under ‘COMELEC RULE’. Yes, Section 261 (q) of the Omnibus Election Code is put there to supposedly govern over and provide for peaceful and fair elections. In a national poll, those authorized by the PNP to carry firearms for self protection are no longer afforded that privilege for half a year, or 183 days. And that’s not the worst of it.
Remember the premise that we protect ourselves because the police cannot? Now, we are literally left for DEAD. Or did the police really think that criminals will heed to the gun ban? Election related crimes had never had anything to do with legitimate gun holders in the first place, unless we become victims to criminals who know we abide by the law and keep our guns in our houses. In effect, we bare ourselves to the pickings of those not abiding by the law! Yes, it’s a joke. It’s a sad, but a blunt truth of a joke. Simplistic? Yes, but a true and sad reflection of our predicament.
And all these are for what? For all intents and purposes these set of laws are put in place to prevent those running for public office from killing each other. I say let them, and rid ourselves of some bad eggs in the process. Or change the system of rewarding vultures, sucking up the tax-payers’ hard-earned money to provide for their personal pockets! That’s the main reason they kill each other in the first place; why passé actors go into it, why ambitious and unqualified nobodies scramble for it. Not because they want to be public servants. But because it’s a lucrative, albeit corrupt career! What public service? What accountability? There is even a barangay captain with a P50 Million plunder case! We all know what we live with day to day. Corruption is such a common term that it loses meaning altogether. But corruption is a whole new topic altogether. Let me go back to the topic at hand.
A not so memorable experience as a crime victim was when my vehicle got stolen right in front of my house in June, 2004. To my disbelief the perpetrator was allegedly no less than a member of the Traffic Management Group (TMG). He was a police officer at that time in the person of a “P01 Tecson”. (San Juan Police has a record of this case). That person was positively identified from the latent prints found on my stolen car after it was recovered. There were other sad experiences of being a crime victim but the worst one yet came when my family almost became victims of a home intrusion and possibly worse when a member of the “Akyat-Bahay” gang was caught right next to our back door. It was dark, he wore shorts but had no shirt on, and, we later found, armed with a knife and screw driver that he discarded before he was caught. Citizens of the neighbourhood caught 2 of the 3 gang members in the area that night. The one in our property got cornered and surrendered when he saw I was armed with a gun. As it turned out the police confirmed that they were indeed known criminals and that “my” bad guy had a warrant out for multiple charges of murder and homicide. One late-apprehending officer even commented “Sana pinatay nyo na, shoot-to-kill na din naman yan” (“You should have killed him, he was a shoot-to-kill case anyway). I did not know then with whom I was more scared of, the criminal or the law enforcer.
All I ask for at this point is an assurance for my family’s safety and security. If not, for me to be responsible for my own family’s safety and security with the freedom to chose the manner I think best. Please don’t tell me about police statistics. Anybody having been crime victims KNOW that the police cannot protect the citizenry from the evils in our society. That means the majority of Filipinos know this, as almost everybody I know have been victims to crime in one form or another. A brother stabbed to death from a robbery-holdup. A daughter abducted, raped and gruesomely killed. The stories go on endlessly as we live an existence that is worsening on a daily basis. Nothing can be done to console the loved-ones of those who died in these horrible events. NOTHING can be done to bring back time. But there is a way to help prevent, deter and fight these hideous crimes. Fortunately or unfortunately we are at the mercy of our leaders in government and Law enforcement. We only ask that sensible laws be passed and implemented. Politics aside, we all know the truth about gun control. There is no quick and easy way to take away the evils that surround us, and gun control is certainly not the way to a truly free and peaceful nation. Let us learn from a great nation, not to set as our example, but to be taught from its history.
The Americans have always had the “right to keep and bear arms” engraved in their constitution. They are not cowards. Moreover, they know that freedom can only be obtained if the citizenry have power. And that power comes from being able to fight for their safety and their interests. Not the police, not the military and certainly not the government should rule over the citizens. They maintain that gun control is not about guns, it’s about CONTROL. And that only a government afraid of its citizens tries to control them. This is, for all its glory and all its torment, the very foundation of Freedom for the Americans.
Let’s say we are just after the “Pinoy dream” and not the “American Dream” as above. For me that dream is equivalent to a state able to fulfil its promise as stated in our Constitution.
And I read to you:
Article II of the Philippine constitution:
Section 4.
The prime duty of the Government is to serve and protect the people. The Government may call upon the people to defend the State and, in the fulfilment thereof, all citizens may be required, under conditions provided by law, to render personal, military or civil service.
Section 5.
The maintenance of peace and order, the protection of life, liberty, and property, and promotion of the general welfare are essential for the enjoyment by all the people of the blessings of democracy.
End of quote.
Give me this and I will rest at ease. I will be more than willing to give up my firearm as I no longer need it for me and my family’s protection. Only when the state can guarantee me this security will I relinquish my self-sworn duty to self-protection and the protection of my loved-ones. After all, our constitution states that “Sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them”.
As in the past, and more so in our present situation, the people, represented here by one citizen, are saying “please, allow us, at the very least to protect ourselves”. The criminals have guns and other deadly weapons. Moreover, they have the intent, purpose and determination in using those weapons. The presumption alone that their would-be victims are un-armed will make them more determined in their pursuit. Conversely, knowing that their would-be victims were equally armed, they would definitely be deterred from their evil plans. Countless cases during Gun Bans are recorded as law-abiding citizens become victims to car-napping, hold-up, homicide, murder and other criminal offenses. These crimes would have otherwise been deterred or altogether prevented had the victims been armed. We adamantly say NO to illegal guns. And the guns we keep are not intended for use in crime but rather only for self-defence or sport.
As a Filipino citizen I should demand what the state owes me. What the state should guarantee me. But as a first key step, I ask only that we take a closer look at firearms ownership before we come to any conclusions. Make laws that make sense. And listen to the cry of the citizens. Listen to the cry of Democracy.