Aquino opposes total gun ban

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III is not in favor of the imposition of total gun ban, saying it will not solve crime incidents in the country.

Aquino said he will not support the proposal as it will make “law-abiding” gun owners defenseless while outlaws can still secure guns.

What is needed, he said, is stricter implementation of laws or imposition of higher penalty for irresponsible gun owners.

“A law that seeks to reform the outlaws will not work so you need a law that will sanction them further and to prove as the deterrence,” he told reporters.

Aquino, a gun enthusiast, said studies showed that areas in the United States that have liberal policy on licenses to carry concealed firearms have experienced a “marked drop in crime statistics” while those areas that have stricter license policy recorded otherwise.

“So 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 of all of these people who are outside of the law and get them to the bars of justice,” he said, adding that the proposal only elicited a “knee jerk reaction.”

Instead of a total gun ban, Aquino said the government is focused on dismantling private armed groups.

“Before all of these incidents happened, habulin lahat ‘yung private armed groups, dahil palagay natin ito ang pinaka-violent at pinaka-threat sa society,” he said.

The President said that so far, authorities have arrested 64 individuals, killed nine and detained 50. A total of 249 firearms were also recovered, he said.

He also cited the Philippine National Police's “Oplan Katok” wherein policemen visit people who have firearms whose licenses have expired.

He said police tried to visit Ronald Bae, the man who recently went on a shooting rampage in Cavite that killed eight people, for the renewal of his license but he was not at his residence at that time.

Meanwhile, Aquino will not give up his love for guns amid calls for him to do so.

“I think I lead by example by conforming to the law. Baka naman, sana akusahan naman ako na may ginagawang mali para itigil ‘yung behavior na pinapatigil,” he said.

He added he will use the gun only for self defense.

“I think, you will acknowledge that I was a victim of violence in this aspect in 1987 and both by Church and the law recognizes my right to elf defense. Self defense is a skill and it’s a skill that has to be practice to have any value,” Aquino said.

He was among those shot in one of the bloody coups against his mother, the late President Corazon Aquino. (Jill Beltran/Sunnex)