There’s supposed to be an election gun ban. And security is supposed to be tight in courtrooms and halls of justice, where decorum is observed and there is always a chance that jailbirds on trial might attempt to escape.
And yet a former Canadian journalist, on trial for malicious mischief for threatening a doctor with a gun, managed to enter a courtroom in Cebu yesterday with not just one but two guns. John Holdridge Pope fatally shot the doctor who sued him plus his lawyer. Pope then left the courtroom and was reportedly trying to shoot more people before he was shot and wounded by a policeman. Pope, reportedly despondent over personal problems, then shot himself and died later in a hospital.
Pope was reportedly frisked before entering the courtroom on the fourth floor of the hall of justice. But the frisking failed to detect the gun hidden in his sock and another in his bag. There is no metal detector in the hall of justice.
After all the deaths from gun violence since New Year’s Eve, and with a gun ban in place, you’d think there would be tighter enforcement of gun control. The deadly rampage of Pope shows that this is not the case, even in a government building that is supposed to be better secured than other public places.
The rampage should lead to a review of security systems in other government buildings, particularly in halls of justice. Even more important, it should lead to a review of the enforcement of the ban on carrying firearms outside homes during the election period. It all boils down to effective law enforcement.