After smoking challenge, Noy dared to pass total gun ban
MANILA, Philippines – After being urged by several people to drop his pack of cigarettes, presidential front-runner Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III is now asked to give up his own gun.
The Gunless Society of the Philippines, led by Nandy Pacheco who founded the “Ang Kapatiran” party list, said Aquino should implement a total gun ban in the Philippines following the positive impact of the police’s gun control efforts on the general conduct of the 2010 elections.
Areas perenially branded as “hot spots” for violence during election season were surprisingly “peaceful” last May 10, according to a group involved in pushing for electoral reforms (Read article here).
“I hope Noynoy can set an example [through the total gun ban] and have political will,” Pacheco told ABS-CBN News.
Pacheco lamented that the previous administrations have not heeded his group’s call.
Should Aquino, a registered gun owner, give up his firearm and uphold a total gun ban in the Philippines, he said violent incidents in the country will certainly go down.
Not practical?
Of course, as with any other issue, the total gun ban proposed by Pacheco’s group did not sit well with some people.
Atty. Ernesto Tabujara of Peaceful Responsible Owners of Guns (PROGun), for one, said a total gun ban is “unrealistic and not feasible” in the Philippines.
“Unlike the western countries, the Philippines suffers from rampant crime in the form of robberies and thefts, kidnapping, drug violence, terrorism in the south, communist insurgency, and political and profession-related killings,” Tabujara said.
According to Tabujara, the total gun ban would not be implemented properly given the limited number of policemen and law enforcers. For this reason, he said wealthy Filipinos tend to hire personal bodyguards for their own protection.
“The more affluent Filipinos hire private security guards for their homes and subdivisions or personal bodyguards for the even wealthier,” he added.
Chief Supt. Gil Meneses, chief of PNP’s firearms explosives division, for his part said: “The gun dealers will be affected. Why would a person buy a gun if he can’t even carry or use it?”
Amid the criticisms, however, Meneses assured that the PNP will consider the implementation of the said measure. On Friday, a second national firearms summit will be held to discuss ways to effectively control gun use in the country. — Report from Alex Santos, ABS-CBN News
This was posted in another forum in reply to this article, which I will share with everyone:
“Easy lang guys – Nandy is cared for by those who are opposed to us who favor gun rights and everything that goes with it. He is let loose on us so that we are busy bashing him to hide the selfish interests of those in high places in Crame. He was all alone in the gun summit as an anti-gun force together with the hierarchy of the PNP and yet he is given much attention while the rest of the guys in the summit were for maintenance of gun rights, including judges, prosecutors, lawyers, media, AFAD, FAMAP, PPSA, PNSA, etc.
It should be made known that the second phase of the gun summit was held without notice to the attendees in a private hotel. This was done behind the backs of all who are interested to protect their interests and rights. The PNP cannot control the outpouring of legitimate gun owners against their policies so they hid the second phase of the summit.
We should be vigilant to the moves of the PNP to railroad gun rules to what they want and not what is needed by the citizenry. The point is legitimate gun owners are compliant with law but the sad part is they are being played by the PNP for whatever selfish reasons. Why selfish? Because despite our compliance with law so that we may be answerable should we use our guns illegally, we cannot carry it outside of residence without a PTC that is approved by the same people who do not want to give Filipinos the wherewithal to defend themselves should the need arises. We Filipinos want level playing field, fair play and transparency and we are not getting it from the present PNP hierarchy. Stugglers of the previous administration – perhaps???”
…was a previous media practitioner, that is why he has got connections with the funny papers.
Really? I always thought that old grouch was a lawyer?
Yes, he is (or was). But there are good lawyers as well as bad lawyers. :-/ The next time we meet, I will relate to you his boasts on the lawsuits he was planning to file vs. gunowners. So far it has never taken off the ground.
Whoever this Pacheco person is, he is obviously out of touch with reality. I grew up in the Philippines during the Martial Law years, and I can tell you that I still carried firearms, even under threat of stiff penalties Ther are times when the consequences of getting penalized is much less than the “opportunity cost” of not arming oneself for protection.
I have spent countless years in various parts of the world as part of the US contingent in multiple conflicts, and I am not surprised that the Philippines, albeit it has some politics invovled with it, is considered to be the most dangerous place in the world for journalists. Imagine that – the Philippine is worse than Iraq, Afghanistan, Colombia, Somalia, Mexico, etc.
Even in the great US of A, there are times when a conflagration would take place, and the government simply does not have the resources to cover it all in terms of law enforcement and peace and order e.g. LA riots, Katrina, etc. The right to bear arms is necessary to ensure that law abiding citizens are duly given the ability to protect themselves and their love ones.
Whatever his rhetoric is, it is just noise, clutter, chatter; Filipinos as a culture has a love affair with the gun and any politician who deem themselves worthy of representing their constituents, would be foolish to such an ignoramus like Pacheco.