“President apparent” is an odd moniker. But that’s how the press refers to Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, the son of former President Corazon Aquino. The Philippine presidential candidate, the nation’s proverbial “man of the people, has spoken out against the Philippine National Police’s looming decision to “extend” the country’s current gun ban past June 9. Speaking to philstar.com, Aquino “pointed out that the country only has 250,000 security forces to protect some 100 million Filipinos, noting that the population doubled from 50 million in 1986. Given this situation, Aquino said the response time – now covering bigger area and larger population – would be much slower. He also said he was not inclined to support total gun ban because the records showed that crimes related to licensed firearms comprised only one percent.” Not inclined?
“The proposal is to come up with a law to control the behavior of the outlaws. By definition, the outlaw is beyond the law, not to live within the law, so I don’t (see) the logic of a law controlling the behavior of somebody who does not follow the law,” Aquino said, promising to review studies in other countries to see if the liberalization of the law allowing people to carry firearms indeed causes an increase in crime incidents.
Paging John Lott. Will John Lott please report to the Philippine Airlines courtesy desk. Meanwhile, Aquino’s moderate position looks prety extreme compared to the extreme position of his less moderate opponents.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel, on the other hand, said he is supporting a stricter gun ban on the streets as a measure to ensure peace.
He also batted for a total ban on gun sales.
“Stricter gun ban on streets needed, not compulsory sex education in schools,” he said.
He said only the members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) should be allowed to carry firearms.
Guess which way this one’s going? Remembering, of course, that the decision whether or not to ban guns lies with one man and one man only.
Meanwhile, Malacañang {the Philippine White House] directed PNP Director Gen. Jesus Versoza to make sure that all sides are heard and all opinions are weighed before coming up with a final decision on whether to lift or not the total gun ban next week.
Never mind Katrina guys, this is how the gun grabbers do it.
If the PNP are the only people who have guns according to SEN. Pimentel, then the philippines will be in serious trouble because lots of PNP are scalawags. I read news reports and confirmed my fears are true. It is easy to commit a crime in an unarmed community……. we need gun safety not gun ban. we need police visibility not gun ban policy, we need quick response with a trained law abiding armed community!!!
Senatot pimentel is making swift statements on gun policies. He should balance the concentration of arms to unprofessional and lawless individuals including personnel of the armed forces vis a vis the unarmed law abiding persons. Sponsoring bills just for political ambitions should avoided for its implications to the citizenry. The right to self preservation is a natural right. Pimentel’s bills should revolved around this natural law and he should sponsor bills that reinforce this principle. Citizens are to be adequately protected by outside force as well as from within.
Comments are closed.