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Monday, October 31, 2005
Rama: Empty man kills gun
By Karlon N. Rama
Stagefive
This was the one-liner that Adrian Tadena, range officer and president of the Front Sight Gun Club, sent as deadpan reaction to a news article that saw print in page 12 of Saturday’s issue headlined “CAT commandant faces raps.”
The story was about how the anti-graft office recently filed a criminal case against public school teacher Rey Antonio Paraiso for accidentally shooting and injuring a student, a Citizens Army Training cadet, at the Tulay National High School in Minglanilla.
Based on Ombudsman Investigator Corazon Arnado-Carrillo’s findings, the incident happened last April 12, 2002 but the boy’s mother filed the case only last year.
Paraiso was cleaning his .45 cal. pistol inside the classroom when he discharged the apparently loaded firearm. The bullet grazed his right forefinger and wounded the student (name withheld for being a minor) who’d been walking outside, on the foot.
He brought the child, as well as himself, to the hospital for treatment but lied to the police when asked what happened. Paraiso said an armed intruder had unintentionally shot the boy.
Later, after the boy broke the real score, Paraiso changed his story and admitted he had a negligent discharge.
He said he was simply trying to unload and clear the pistol “but the slide slipped off my finger and it went off accidentally.”
It is not clear from the anti-graft resolution and decision if the firearm was licensed. In his counter-affidavit, Paraiso denied owning the gun and said he merely “found the gun” in his office table drawer.
SAFETY AND RESPONSIBILITY. All firearms, whether those used in the shooting sports or those kept as self-defense weapons, are as dangerous in the hands of negligent people like any motor vehicle is in the hands of a drunk driver.
The good thing is accidental deaths or injuries resulting from firearms are highly rare and immensely sporadic while, according to a Nov. 19, 2004 article of The Manila Times’ Johnna Villaviray-Giolagon, some 128 people have died and another 1,074 have been injured in road accidents between Monumento and Balintawak in Edsa from July 2002 to Oct. 2003 alone.
That firearm-related mishaps are rare is no accident, by the way. Sound firearm-acquisition policy on the part of government — that all those who want to buy any gun must go through a mandatory safety seminar and go through it again every time they renew their firearm license — play a large role.
PAID CERTIFICATE. And, although some gun stores do facilitate the innocuously termed “non-appearance” package, where one buys instead of earns his or her gun safety certificate, gun clubs offering free lessons and courses to members continuously provide a great venue for gun owners to learn about safety while getting a taste of the shooting sport.
A lesson one can learn, for example, is the safe and proper way of clearing a loaded pistol: Remove the magazine, rack the slide back to remove the round in the chamber while keeping finger constantly off the trigger at all times, visibly inspect that chamber is empty, release the slide, and finally, point the gun at safe direction for dry fire.
Or the more important lesson: never handle firearms inside public places like schools unless extremely necessary.
In the first place, firearms belonging to civilians should be kept at home, under Philippine laws. Outside carry is subject to special permits and allowable only under very special circumstances.
Safety is everything in the shooting sport and gun club life. Proper procedure in gun handling is promoted constantly in the gun club and negligent action is also as vigilantly pointed out.
In competitions, unsafe action is grounds for disqualification. In the range, everybody is cautioned to consider all guns as loaded, to not point their guns anywhere except downrange, to keep their fingers off the trigger unless in the actual act of firing, and to be mindful of what they are shooting at and what’s behind it.
And each one is expected to stay mindful as they leave and return to their respective homes.
To learn, relearn and promote safe gun handling is the task of every responsible gun owner given the fact that, in the Philippines, firearm ownership is not a right but a privilege that can be taken away at the slightest provocation.
One such provocation could be a repeat of Mr. Paraiso’s unfortunate negligent discharge.
Which brings us back to Adrian’s deadpan reaction: Empty man kills gun.
(knrama@sunstar.com.ph)
(October 31, 2005 issue)
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