"There is no need for guns in modern society. We have non-violent democratic mechanisms for resolving disputes." These assertions are casually thrown around during debates about gun control by those who believe themselves to be more civilized and of course, more morally upright. On the surface, they may sound perfectly reasonable. After all, hasn't society progressed to the point where we no longer need the tools of vulgar barbarity? Nevertheless, they are wrong.Equality requires force, order demands violence
To understand why, we must first look into the fundamentals of how we order society. The liberal democracy is the world's primary political system and regardless of practice, is also the official political system in the Philippines. Its underlying principles are ideas of liberty and equality. Few people realize, however, that these two concepts are at odds and cannot harmoniously exist together. Liberty is a pure condition and can be found in nature but equality is imposed by Man and must be established by force. Humans are intrinsically not equal so equality means holding back some while pushing forward others; groups who discriminate are compelled by the state to desist. Equality requires that freedoms are denied. Continue Reading
COMELEC GUN BAN statistics project 2013: Volunteers needed!
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! for PROGUN Comelec 2013 gun ban crime statistics project. Please contribute shooting data from your region during the Comelec gun and and enter here in our database: (click on REPORT INCIDENT on upper left hand corner http://progun.ph/node/add/incident-report) Anyone can contribute to the incident reports. So if you know of any shooting incidents during this Comelec Gun ban period from 13 january till June 5, 2013, kindly copy paste the incident resport from online news sources or narrate yourself any and all shooting incident if the incident is unreported in the news. Thank you. Continue Reading
Britain, the gold standard for gun control
Once again, gun control debates are raging in the United States and now, in the Philippines. Every time there is talk about restricting firearms, anti-gun advocates love wheeling out Great Britain as some sort of gold standard. The old narrative should be familiar:
The United States, with 90 guns for every 100 citizens, is the most heavily armed society in the world. As a result of Americans' stubborn love of their right to bear arms, its cities have become mired in violence, gang shootings and school massacres. Britain, on the other hand, known as having among the strictest gun laws in the world, is a far safer society. Gun crime in the UK is minuscule compared to America and its crime rate is much lower.
Reinforcing this view are the recent spate of mass shootings in the US, together with the announcement that homicide in Britain is at a 30-year low. Continue Reading
PRESIDENT AQUINO REJECTS GUN BAN, QUOTES PROGUN
President Benigno Aquino III on Wednesday balked at the idea of imposing a total gun ban in the country, saying that a law to reform outlaws is futile.
“By definition, lahat itong gumagawa ng krimen---outlaw. So a law that seeks to reform the outlaws will not work,” Aquino, a known gun enthusiast, said in an interview with reporters in Malacañang.
Instead, the President said stricter laws penalizing gun owners who violate the privilege should be studied, and strictly enforced.
Instead, the President said stricter laws penalizing gun owners who violate the privilege should be studied, and strictly enforced.
“It sounds nice, total gun ban, but the total does not happen because the outlaw will not. So we will not stop in our pursuit to [apprehend] these people who are outside of the law and get them before the bars of justice,“ Aquino said.
“Magandang headline, pero knee-jerk reaction eh. Hindi ko ugaling mambola. Continue Reading
Why We Will Not Give In
These are hard times for gun owners. With the recent spate of gun violence incidents such as the death of a 7 year old child by a stray bullet during New Year's Eve, and the shooting rampage by a deranged man in Cavite which killed 8 people, there are now calls again for a reconsideration of a gun ban in the Philippines. The Gunless Society advocates and usual hypocrite politicians and leftist media, are all using these isolated incidents as a basis for a renewed call to ball all civilian firearms ownership in the Philippines. We have seen this type of behavior before in the United Kingdom in the aftermath of the Dublane School shooting in 1996, and in Australia after the Port Arthur Shooting, which led to total gun bans in both countries.Will we allow such to happen in the Philippines? Keep dreaming.Insisting on gun owners' rights as a civil liberty is not insensitivity to such shooting tragedies. While we do condole with the victims and condemn these acts of gun violence, we should not allow the issues to be muddled into glorifying the vested interests of anti-gun groups or to be used as political mileage for unsavory and publicity hungry politicians. Neither will be allow licensed law abiding gun owners to be made scapegoats and wrongfully be portrayed as the perpetrators of these incidents, which is utterly false. Continue Reading
Should Gun Owners be embarrassed into giving up their guns?
I guess that my point is why should I, and millions of other responsible gun owners and sportsmen, be punished, penalized, or even blamed for the act of a lunatic American gunman? Why should I a legitimate and responsible gun owner be ostracized, bamboozled, and even embarrassed into thinking that my ownership of guns is somewhat "problematic" or even evil or wrong? Personally, I cannot see the moral issue with owning a gun or several guns for that matter (is there one?). A gun is a mere inanimate object made of steel, wood, and/or plastic. If left alone without human intervention, it cannot kill, maim, or threaten anyone. Continue Reading
Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting: Are Guns the Problem or the Solution?
Once again a deranged gunman in the US has gone on a shooting rampage and has shot and killed 20 Children in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut. The incident has once again also spurred the debate on gun control and whether or not more gun regulation could have prevented the violence from happening.
Let us begin by stating that there are already numerous gun laws in the US amongst which is the infamous Brady Law wherein 15 day waiting period is imposed prior to purchase of all handguns and a federal background check is likewise made on the intended purchaser to determine if he/she has a criminal record. Federal laws likewise prohibit minors from purchasing handguns and ammunition. Fully automatic firearms are likewise heavily regulated, as well as purchasing firearms via mail order and transporting them accross certain state lines. In spite of all these laws and regulations, the shooter was still able to get hold of guns (from his mother) and inflict the harm.
Continue Reading
Let us begin by stating that there are already numerous gun laws in the US amongst which is the infamous Brady Law wherein 15 day waiting period is imposed prior to purchase of all handguns and a federal background check is likewise made on the intended purchaser to determine if he/she has a criminal record. Federal laws likewise prohibit minors from purchasing handguns and ammunition. Fully automatic firearms are likewise heavily regulated, as well as purchasing firearms via mail order and transporting them accross certain state lines. In spite of all these laws and regulations, the shooter was still able to get hold of guns (from his mother) and inflict the harm.
Continue Reading
Secretary Mar Roxas goes after licensed Gun Owners
Secretary Mar Roxas barks up the wrong tree. It's not civilian licensed gun owners who commit election related crimes rather 99% of election violence is committed by politicians and criminals who wield unlicensed firearms. Is this the start of his anti-gun policies? Continue Reading
PNP Revokes gun license of Motorist who assaulted MMDA traffic enforcer: Is this legal?
Can a firearms license be canceled by the PNP just simply because a criminal case was filed against you even if the case is unrelated to the alleged offense committed? This was anissue when I was sitting in the PNP national Firearms Control Committee in 2009. Several incidents were discussed such as the "nutty professor" of AMA who beat up and threatened a gas station boy and his IWB pistol was showing protruding from his back, and the Richard Ordonez and Cheryl Cosim incident in Proj 8. When i was asked for my opinion, my opinion then, as it is now, is that the mere filing of criminal charges against a person cannot result in the cancellation of his firearms licenses unless the firearm was itself used in the commission of the alleged crime and is considered as evidence. Continue Reading
UN Arms Deal Talks End Without Deal
UNITED NATIONS - UN negotiations to establish the first international treaty on the multibillion-dollar arms trade ended without a deal on Friday, with some diplomats blaming the United States for the deadlock.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he was "disappointed" that member states failed to clinch an agreement after several years of preparatory work and four weeks of negotiations, calling it a "setback."
But he vowed "steadfast" commitment to obtaining a "robust" arms trade treaty, noting that countries had agreed to pursue negotiations.
"There is already considerable common ground and states can build on the hard work that has been done during these negotiations," he added. Continue Reading