Gun dealers question gun ban imposed 5 months before polls

An association of gun dealers opposed yesterday the total gun ban imposed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) five months ahead of the crucial 2004 national elections.

The gun dealers said the Comelec may have gone overboard on their early implementation of the gun ban.

Lawyer Hector Rodriguez, executive vice president of the Association of Firearms and Ammunition Dealers, said in a telephone interview that AFAD may question the early total gun ban.

AFAD is a group of local firearms and ammunition dealers that encompasses 75 dealers nationwide.

"We will try to make our official representation with the Comelec to explain our side. We should be guided by the law," said Rodriguez, who also heads the Weapons Systems Corp.

Rodriguez was referring to a provision of Republic Act 7166, the act proclaiming the synchronized conduct of national and local elections. RA 7166 sets a 90-day gun ban during the election period.

He also cited the Omnibus Election Code, or Batas Pambansa 881, which sets the election period as 90 days before election day and 30 days after.

"We are hoping that it (the gun ban) should be 90 days before and after (election day). We were surprised that the Comelec is conducting the total gun ban on Dec. 15," Rodriguez said.

"We were not even informed," he added, "we just learned this from the (news)papers."

The Comelec’s declaration of the total gun ban starting on Dec. 15 puts it approximately 50 days ahead of the gun ban provided under the law, Rodriguez said.

He added that while AFAD wants the peaceful conduct of elections next year, they do not agree with a total gun ban. "It should not be an all-encompassing gun ban," he said. "There are candidates or politicians who need some sort of protection."

His concern was echoed by another gun dealer, Neta Bongco of Armaments Unlimited Inc. Bongco criticized the Comelec over the gun ban, saying crimes and violence are not committed by responsible owners but by people possessing unregistered firearms.

"Common criminals will proliferate, since ordinary citizens will not have any form of protection. (The) gun ban is followed only by law-abiding citizens — not by criminals," Bongco added.

The dealer said that the guns used in kidnappings and bank robberies are not registered with or licensed by the Philippine National Police.

Gina Angangco of the Arms Corp. of the Philippines said firearms are not the cause of crime, rather, they are "intended to protect the lives against criminal elements in society."