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Massive Drive Vs Loose Firearms to Follow Gun Amnesty
July 24, 2009
Secretary Ronnie Puno of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said a massive crackdown against loose firearms will follow a one-month gun amnesty program that would be implemented by the government starting October this year as part of the intensified efforts of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to maintain peace and order.
Puno, who chairs the National Police Commission (Napolcom) warned gun owners of loose firearms who fail to avail themselves of the new program that they could go to jail after the amnesty period is over.
Puno, along with PNP chief Director General Jesus Verzosa and heads of other law enforcement agencies signed last July 23 the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Executive Order 817, which directs law enforcement agencies to carry out a National Firearms Control Program.
“The upcoming gun amnesty program will be the last chance for gun owners to register their loose firearms or those with expired licenses as this would be the last amnesty program to be implemented by the government under the Arroyo administration,” said Puno.
He called on local chief executives to help the DILG carry out an information campaign on the gun amnesty program, which will last from Oct 1-31 of this year.
“We have already implemented about three or four similar programs in the past and many have not taken them seriously, thinking that there would be another amnesty program. When the amnesty is over, we will carry out a massive anti-loose firearms drive,” Puno said. “A word of warning to those who own unlicensed firearms: we won’t be implementing another gun amnesty program after this one.”
He assured gun owners that the PNP will accept the registrations of their unlicensed firearms and those with expired licenses during the amnesty period with “no questions asked.”
The PNP, Puno said, is implementing the gun amnesty program months ahead of the campaign period for the 2010 elections so that such an effort will not be misconstrued in any way as a political move on the part of the government.
The DILG chief said the government expects to bring down the level of loose firearms in the country by 50% with the implementation of the amnesty program.
“We really need to clean up this matter of loose firearms because our problems on peace and order usually have to do with unlicensed guns,” Puno said.
Puno said the PNP, which has already collated a list of previously registered firearms with unrenewed licenses, will carry out a house-to-house campaign after Oct. 31 against gun owners who fail to register their firearms during the amnesty period.
EO 817 issued by President Arroyo orders the implementation of a National Firearms Control Program.
The directive, which provides for a general amnesty for the registration of loose firearms, tasks the PNP to conduct active police operations against unregistered firearms through random weapons checks in crime-prone areas; mobile checkpoint and chokepoint operations; intelligence build-up; internal security operations; application of search warrants; and dismantling of private armed groups.
The government expects to reduce by at least 3% per month the estimated 1.1 million loose firearms currently in the hands of threat groups, criminal elements and unauthorized individuals.
The PNP is targeting to account for some 33,000 loose firearms within the first month of implementation of EO 817.
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