We need to talk about GUNS

In the ideal Philippines — the Philippines that we should become — safety shouldn’t come from more firearms; it should come from having more of each other.

In response to the spate of mall robberies in Manila this week, netizens have asked the government to stop the ongoing gun ban, which is in effect because of the elections. Criminals have become more brazen, they say, because there are no arms to oppose them. These voices agree with the chief of the Philippine National Police, who has asked that security guards be allowed to carry firearms while on duty.

But when have we ever felt safe? Did we feel safer last year when people were free to carry pistols?

On a normal day, it would be impossible to walk 10 minutes in Manila without coming across a firearm. They’re everywhere, on every street corner, in front of every building, every mall, and every residential village — and these are just the ones we’re meant to see.

We believe this makes us safer. But according to a 2009 Reuters report, The Philippines has more gun-related deaths than any other country in Asia relative to its size. We believe this makes us safer, but every day, primetime news is replete with news of hold-ups, and shoot-outs, and massacres.

Of course, guns don’t commit crimes. People do. It’s human beings who pull the trigger; human beings who take aim; human beings who plot and organize such vile, heinous acts. But following the same logic, guns don’t deter crimes, either. People do. It’s human beings who choose to ditch the trigger; human beings who come to each other’s rescue; human beings who form intelligence needed to combat criminal elements.

Now, the recent mall shootings affect us because they hit home. They’ve made us realize that our lives aren’t in our own hands; they’re in the hands of those with triggers. We are at the mercy of itchy fingers, raised tempers, and psychopaths, and they may come for us in the places where we feel most secure — a classroom, a movie theater, a bedroom.

But consider this a rude awakening because it has always been this way. Ours is a society where guns are so ingrained — a culture where economic power and firepower are one and the same. Those of us who can afford it hire security guards and bodyguards, as if the rest of society were a threat. And there are actually parts of this country that are ruled by private armies — we have communities who live in constant fear; Filipinos forced to till land they don’t own, like slaves in the 1700s.

These are realities we’ve lived with, tolerated, and have even learned to accept as facts of life. And these are things that we must now confront and expunge from our DNA.

See, all that all of us want is protection — assurance that we can live our lives without fear of it being stolen from us; assurance that we’ll be with our loved ones at the end of each day.

But the fact that we look to guns for protection shows exactly the kind of society that we are. See, in the ideal Philippines — the Philippines that we should become — safety shouldn’t come from more firearms; it should come from having more of each other.

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Tweet the author @PepeDiokno.