Monday, September 24, 2007 Rama: Child-proofing By Karlon N. Rama Stage Five
A HOUSE bill has been introduced to penalize firearm owners whose guns accidentally end up in the hands of children.
If approved, Sen. Manny Villar’s House Bill 1004 will impose a one-year jail sentence and/or a P100,000-fine to the erring gun owner if the child, regardless of relation, ends up accidentally hurting him or herself or others, or if the child brings the gun to any public place.
To escape liability, gun owners must keep their firearms under lock and key at all times either through a gun case or other safety devices like a trigger lock.
Villar’s approach of child-proofing guns—ensuring that kids won’t be able to access guns—seems like a step in the right direction and a far cry from the ban-gun blah-blah some legislators shoot off whenever made to comment on the subject.
It is a measure that I believe will win enthusiastic support among firearm owners because it targets specific acts and, in so doing, actually promote responsible firearm ownership.
It’s a well known fact that licensed firearms bought from any Association of Firearms and Ammunition Dealers (Afad) stores come in gun cases with slots for a padlock. Moreover, firearm manufacturers like Ruger toss in free gun locks—it’s a padlock with a metal cable shackle and used to obstruct the gun’s action—to go with their hard-plastic gun boxes.
Compliance, thus, simply requires buying a padlock or using the gun lock.
For those with custom-built guns, there are gun cases from Doskosil or NTN and the heavy-duty shock proof, water-proof and airtight tactical boxes from Pelican and Storm.
Shooting ranges, as a universal rule, enjoin all shooters to always secure their guns and ammo when not in use. Common sense should reinforce what range rules cannot overstate.
GUNS AND KIDS. A good addendum to Sen. Villar’s bill would be a provision for a nationwide educational campaign to be carried out with the help of Afad and private firearm associations like the Peaceful and Responsible Owners of Guns (Pro-Gun) and the Philippine Practical Shooting Association.
Here, the aim would be gun-proofing children—making sure that children don’t handle guns at all even if they see one.
The National Rifle Association has been very successful in its Eddie Eagle campaign in the United States.
The program teaches kids from kindergarten to grade school four basic steps when in the presence of a gun—stop, don’t touch, leave the area and tell an adult who, if not personally trained in handling firearms, should know enough to seek professional assistance.
There is no reason for a similar program not to work among our children.
My wife of four months and two days as of this writing recently asked if I would get rid of my guns once we have kids. I told her no. Sharing to my child my love for the discipline of shooting is something I look forward to in fatherhood.
PRESS FREEDOM. Every year since 1994, and always on the third week of September, journalists in Cebu celebrate Press Freedom Week.
It’s an affair unique to our part of the archipelago. It begins with a Sunday morning parade—a show of solidarity among media institutions and its practitioners—and ends with a Saturday night party fit to tire the god Bacchus himself.
In the five days that fell between the kick-off and the wind-down of this year’s celebration were forums that discussed pressing industry concerns and trends.
That the annual celebration spans the week that includes the date Martial Law was declared 35 years ago is no accident.
And neither is the press week theme “Celebrate Press Freedom by Helping Defend It” mere prose. We celebrate press freedom by reflecting on the era it was taken away. Stage Five joins the working press in saying, Never Again.
