EDITORIAL – Firing guns to welcome 2006 will not make the New Year any better

It's all over the newspapers and television news. Policemen brandishing their masking tape-covered government issued guns. A safety precaution against indiscriminate firing, police officials say.

But aside from instituting measures to ensure that cops do not fire their guns to welcome the New Year, what has the government done to other gun-owners who are not cops? What about the guns owned by cops that are not government issued?

The indiscriminate firing of guns has always been a problem during the Yuletide season, especially during Christmas and New Year's Eve. In fact, this act has claimed the lives of a number of innocent and unsuspecting persons. But while the police implemented measures to make sure that government-issued guns are not used for this lethal activity, nothing has been done to ensure that other gun-owners will also not use their firearms to welcome the Yuletide celebrations.

We must admit though that it is difficult to check on all gun-owners, especially in a society that does not unanimously agree on arming civilians. But really, do you think that putting masking tape on the government-issued firearms of the police and the military will stop indiscriminate firing? It has not and it never will. Because while the police and military are constrained from using their government-issued guns, nothing stops them from using the guns that they personally own. There is also no reason for trigger-happy civilians not to use their firearms, especially since no one checks on them.

Until and unless the government finds a way to check on private gun-owners during the Yuletide season, we will never see an end to indiscriminate firing during this season and because of this, more innocent lives will be lost.

A government move, however, is not the sole solution to this problem. We can still call on all gun-owners to refrain from giving in to the itch of using their firearms during the New Year revelry.

What will firing their guns bring to them anyway? Not power for sure because those who usually fire their guns during this time do not do so out in the open. So why use guns when there is a possibility that the act can hurt someone else?

Most importantly, gun-owners should also put to mind that firing guns to welcome the New Year will not make 2006 any better.