Today, it was reported on the news that Atty. Dante Untalan was shot dead in San Carlos, Pangasinan. This killing happened in spite of the current TOTAL GUN ban that we are in due to the upcoming elections. The theory is that Atty. Untalan, who was a Public Attorney’s Office lawyer was killed due to a case that he was handling.

It is incidents such as this that prompts me to ask the question: where were the police when this happened?

Advocates of the gun ban and those who wish to restrict our right to carry firearms outside of our residences frequently remind us that it is the police that are responsible for our protection, not ourselves. If that were the case then killings like this should have been prevented by the police, and Atty Untalan should still be alive now. However, they are not. The simple law of physics tells us that persons cannot be at two places at the same time. If the police are in the precinct or headquarters, on the beat, on leave, or somewhere else then they cannot be at our side protecting us. Quite simply, the mandate of the police is merely to provide for general peace and order and not to protect each and every citizen 24/7. There are not enough of them. And among those who are available, they never seem to be around when it counts.

So if ordinary citizens such as you and I come under threat or are potential victims of crime, can we count on the police to come over and protect us? About 20 years ago my father came under threat from a disgruntled employee of the University whom he had imposed disciplinary sanctions. I accompanied him to the police at Camp Karingal to seek protection. He was assigned on enlisted man who investigated by asking some questions for about a day, wrote a report, then that was it. No personal protection. So my father (and ardent anti-gun person) took a dose of his own medicine and had to sleep in another room in our house (in back) and he had to cringe in fear while going to his office daily. The police did nothing. Had anything happened to him then, he would have just been another statistic for the police files. I am quite certain that my father’s story is quite common among our citizenry, who have had similar such experiences. The police simply shrug off the problem and do nothing. In the meantime, you are left to be a sitting duck.

I have nothing against the police, but they have to realize their limits. When the police themselves call for a total gun ban in the name of crime prevention, then they ought to be prepared to provide us citizens with their utmost protection against crimes such as this. If they cannot do it, then they have no business calling for a gun ban.