Common sense gun control

Too bad it’s not here, but rather from the Philippines. The story goes that in the Philippines, the associated that represents legal manufacturers and dealer of firearms went to the government and complained that illegal manufacture and trafficking of, well, illegal firearms was hurting legitimate business.

Now, here in the States you’d practically expect the government to blame the association and all legal manufacturers and sellers for the problem. The Brady Campaign would issue a huge press release about how Association of Firearms and Ammunition Dealers (the Philippine organization) was enabling the illegal gunrunners, and if they were legislated damn near out of existence, that BLOOD WOULD RUN IN THE STREETS, or some other nonsensical hyperbole.

Thankfully for citizens of the Philippines, that’s not the case on their islands.

Calderon said the PNP (Philippine National Police – ed.) has been supportive of legitimate firearms and ammunitions dealers, particularly AFAD, which has been promoting responsible gun ownership and preventing proliferation of loose firearms.

“We have been supporting these legitimate program to show to the public that there is a way to have legal guns,” the PNP chief said.

Huh. The government actually helping citizens use the correct and legal means to obtain firearms while trying to prosecute criminals in order to reduce the problem with guns being used in crime.

Now, the Philippines has a host of problems with their gun laws, not the least of which is that citizens are only allowed to own two guns, a long arm and a handgun. You also have to remember that the Philippines have been attacked, conquered, invaded, re-invaded, etc, and are currently dealing with a serious insurrection by Muslim extremists. A lot of average joes who want a firearm for their protection can’t necessarily get one; so they have to go through a less than legal route.

So yes, on the one hand I’m applauding the actions of the PNP in encouraging to the citizens to obtain their firearms by legal methods. However, I’m extremely critical of the gun laws in the Philippines – the people know that their own government can’t protect them from criminals and extremists, but are forced by their own silly laws to break the law to provide for that protection. The government really wanted to inspire trust in their citizens, they’d ease some of the bullshit restrictions on owning personal arms in the Philippines.