THE Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) and Senate Majority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto 3rd rejected calls for the imposition of a total gun ban, saying that the government cannot protect all the people from criminals.

Dante Jimenez, anticrime group founding chairman, said that the government should allow responsible citizens to own guns for their self-defense.

What the country needs, he added, are policies that would directly address the problems on loose firearms and illegal drug use.

The group called on the Philippine National Police (PNP) to review its campaign against loose firearms called Operation plan (Oplan) Katok because it has failed.

The VACC challenged President Benigno Aquino 3rd to show political will in the campaign to improve the peace and order situation of the country.

Jimenez noted that the country’s poor peace and order situation has raised doubts on the capacity of the president to govern the country.

“We urge him [President] to lay down his plan on peace and order amidst the serious problems of safety and security our countrymen is experiencing,” Jimenez said in an interview.

The calls for a total gun ban stemmed from the recent shooting rampage that killed eight people including two children in Kawit, Cavite and the death of 7-year-old Stephanie Nicole Ella who was hit by a stray bullet during the New Year revelry in Caloocan City.

But the VACC and Sotto agreed that these shooting incidents should not be used to justify the imposition of a total gun ban in the country.

Sotto said that calls for a total gun ban are knee-jerk reactions and that banning guns would not guarantee that such violent incidents would not be repeated.

“If we outlaw guns, then only the outlaws will have guns, as the saying goes. The citizenry will be at the mercy of the criminal elements with high-powered guns at their disposal,” Sotto said in a statement.

The senator added that the incident in Cavite is a reminder that the antidrug campaign of the government is not making much progress despite existing laws.

He noted that Ronald Bae, the gunman who mercilessly shot people in Kawit, was drunk and under the heavy influence of methamphetamine or shabu.

He said that it was also learned that Bae was a known drug trader in the locality and his house in Kawit was openly used as distribution center for illegal drugs.

“The question is: why was Bae not apprehended for illegal drug trafficking so that carnage could have been prevented?” Sotto asked.

He insisted that instead of a total gun ban, the government should increase the meager budget of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency so that it could upgrade and update its antidrug operations.

Another shootout
On Sunday, a team of policemen and soldiers killed at least 13 members of a big criminal syndicate in a shootout, the third violent incident within days amid widespread calls for stricter gun controls.

The battle erupted after the gunmen in two vehicles tried to smash through a police checkpoint near the town of Atimonan in Quezon province, according to the operations center of the Philippine National Police.

Supt. Hansel Manahan, who was in charge of the operation, was injured and taken to hospital. At least 10 firearms were recovered from the gang members, including an M16-assault rifle.

Reports said that the military and police put up a checkpoint at the boundary towns of Atimonan and Plaridel after receiving a tip that members of a crime ring would pass by the area.

The alleged criminals, who were in two vehicles, did not stop when flagged down by the authorities. They shot at the policemen and soldiers, forcing them to return fire.

No Palace position
Malacañang on Sunday declined to clarify President Benigno Aquino 3rd’s position on whether the government will consider pushing for a total gun ban.

In an interview aired over state-run Radyo ng Bayan (dzRB), Palace deputy spokesman Abigail Valte said that Malacañang is closely monitoring statements on gun control, but proposals will have to be discussed with the President.

There are already separate proposals to implement a total gun ban during the May 2013 elections and Christmas holidays.

Valte also dismissed allegations that a proposal for a total gun ban would get nowhere because this would be unacceptable to Aquino, an avid gun enthusiast.

“I think that is an unwarranted assumption. By way of analogy, the President is a smoker but he pushed very hard for the sin tax [reform bill], so that is the basis for why I am able to say that it is an unwarranted assumption,” she said.

Gun control bills
Currently, there are four bills on gun control pending in the House of Representatives.

Valte said that pending before the Congress is the Citizen’s Protection Act of 2010, which seeks to limit the carrying of firearms in public to police, military and security personnel.

Filed by pro-life groups and signed by 86 Catholic bishops, the bill was sponsored by former senators Ramon Magsaysay Jr., Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Wigberto Tañada.

On one hand, Senate Bill 13, which was filed by Sen. Antonio Trillanes 4th in July 2010, seeks to impose stiffer penalties for illegal possession, manufacture, dealing in, acquisition or disposition of firearms and ammunition.

Trillanes wanted “maximum penalty for violations committed by public officials . . . considering that they are supposedly mandated by their office to preserve peace and order in the society.”

Sen. Franklin Drilon also Senate Bill 129, or an act to regulate the carrying of firearms, provide penalties for its violation and for other purposes.

The proposed measure seeks to limit the issuance of permits to carry guns to the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, PNP, National Bureau of Investigation, Criminal Investigation Service, Narcotics Command, Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces, Sheriff’s Offices of various courts and other law enforcement agencies and regular agents or personnel of duly licensed private security agencies or security forces of state agencies.

Sen. Manuel “Lito” Lapid also filed last year Senate Bill 3114, which seeks to amend Article 254 of the revise penal code, imposing stiffer penalties on illegal discharge of firearms.

Lapid wants a six-year jail term to any person who will shoot any firearm without lawful authority, while an imprisonment of 20 years for those members of the National Police, Armed Forces and other law enforcement agencies who will be caught firing their firearms indiscriminately.

Lapid’s measure is currently pending before the committee on Constitutional Amendments, Revision of Codes and Laws.

Trillanes and Drilon’s bills are still pending before Honasan’s senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs.

Honasan in an earlier interview admitted that enacting a tighter gun control law is already too late since there are only nine session days left for 15th congress.

But he noted that his committee is already reviewing existing laws and proposed bills to be able to come up with a report, which could be used by the next Congress session.

WITH A REPORT FROM AFP