Missing the gun show was not an option

I knew that if I didn’t go last Sunday, I wouldn’t be able to catch the latest AFAD Gun Show at Megamall. The gun show was actually a five-day event starting Thursday July 15 and ending Monday, July 19, 2010, but since Monday is always a full day for me in terms of deadlines, etc., I had no other window except my leisure and family day, Sunday.

For an avowed gun enthusiast, what could be a better way to enjoy Sunday than going to the biggest gun show in the country — despite not having a driver and having to queue crawling for 30 minutes in the usual SM Mega Sunday afternoon traffic and patiently waiting for a vacant parking slot for almost another half hour. Extending it into a five-day show is proof enough that AFAD shows draw a huge crowd every day during its full run. We still don’t have the figures for this year but last year, they had 36,000 registered visitors to the exhibit.

Walking through the vast exhibit floor feels like being a child again let loose in a toy store. All the latest in weaponry, big and small, local and imported, were neatly displayed in wonderful glistening arrays, and all the major importers and manufacturers had their own booths and displays. We noted that Nashe Enterprises has vastly expanded its line up of imported firearms and the always accommodating Ms. Jane Roxas was there to gracefully entertain all queries.     

Mr. Demetrio “Bolo” Tuason, the top honcho of Armscor was there together with the president of Armscor Shooting Range, Gina Angangco and also Bob Sajot, I imagine all through the five-day exhibit, to man their extensive display area and answer all queries on their latest products. Bolo stayed with me as an Israeli firearms expert from Fab Defense demonstrated the versatility of a conversion kit called ‘Kapos’, which in an instant can convert most of the Glock pistol models and the Sig Sauer 225s and 226s into an assault-like rifle complete with an extending stock, handle, etc. I wonder what they would thing of next.

If you saw our extensive coverage of the 10th Bolo Cup on the Sports Shoot segment of the TV show Business & Leisure held early this month, you would be familiar with the Armscor Mig 22. It’s really like a combat .22 rifle, a 15-rounder semi-automatic .22 calibre long arm that they used for their latest challenge in the Bolo Cup. The long-range precision shooting match had literally kids, one as young as eight years old, a merry mix of young boys and girls learning a new skill, precision shooting, and loving it. The organizers of course strictly required that parents be on hand to monitor their kids, but seeing the kids up close, I observed that these kids were a disciplined batch, taking the responsibility of handling a firearm seriously and enjoying the sport of precision shooting immensely. Needless to say, the range officers were always on hand to supervise the kids who joined the shooting competition.

Anyway, the Armscor Mig 22 was also displayed, as promised by Bolo himself, and was a hit at the show. It is proudly Philippine-made, but alas, this model has four to six months’ pre-booking, so if you intend to buy one, book now. If the line gets any longer, as is the case after any gun show, you’re likely to wait a year to get your Mig 22.

While at the gun show among friends, talk inevitably drifted towards a common advocacy — responsible gun ownership and I was invited to join the ‘A2S5‘ Advocacy Coalition.

First, here’s a brief history on this movement.   The curious name ‘A2S5’ stands for Article 2 Section 5 of the 1987 Constitution which the group has adopted as their battle cry. This section states:

“The maintenance of peace and order, the protection of life, liberty, and property, and promotion of the general welfare are essential for the enjoyment by all the people of the blessings of democracy.”

The group takes this provision seriously and promotes that it is every Filipino’s right to protect his life and those of his family and loved ones, to protect his property against anyone who wishes to take it by force. Based on this, the group has formed itself into a coalition, with the following objectives:

1. To represent the interest of every legitimate and responsible gun owner through efforts that will create awareness that every Filipino has a right to defend himself with whatever means to neutralize the danger and at the same time understand the rights and responsibility from said action;

2. To espouse policies that will make legitimate and responsible gun owners a medium of change towards a disciplined community;

3. To protect the interest of legitimate and responsible gun owner through legitimate efforts that they may continue to enjoy the benefits of gun ownership;

4. To liaise with the appropriate government agency and come up with programs that will make unlicensed gun holders register their guns and come under the fold of the law;

5. To conduct educational clinics and campaigns that will teach Filipinos that guns are mere tools and are used for self-defense only and for reaching one’s aspirations; and

6. To organize all legitimate and responsible gun owners so that it can have a choice in crafting government policies affecting gun ownership.

And, in support of the foregoing, the coalition repeats a quote from Voltaire: “….So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men.”

The A2S5 Coalition is a big group of professionals, from businessmen, sportsmen and ordinary Filipinos, to judges, prosecutors, lawyers, government officials, and media personnel. This latter group has been in the news constantly as favorite targets of lawless elements, and judges and prosecutors are not far behind either. Foreign journalists are aghast at how journalists are being sought out for extermination almost weekly in this country, the highest rate in any democratic country.

Even President Noynoy Aquino realizes that it would be difficult for our country’s 250,000 security forces to protect a growing population of 100 million Filipinos. He also recognizes that, from official records, crimes related to licensed firearms comprised a mere one percent.

If you subscribe to what the group espouses, you now have a collective voice in the coalition. They enjoin anyone who shares their objectives and their views to sign up as an active member of the A2S5 Advocacy Coalition.Their Spokesman is Atty. Raul Reyes and can be reached at 0917-810 5007. 

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.

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