Fight vs. loose firearms now a priority by PNP

By Ronron
May 18, 2005

Citing statistics in previous years showing an overwhelming number of unlicensed firearms used in criminal cases, the Philippine National Police (PNP) leadership on Wednesday announced that the fight against loose firearms will already be considered "a priority matter."

PNP Acting Chief Deputy Director General Ricardo De Leon told a press conference in Camp Crame, Quezon City yesterday that the police has stepped up its campaign against loose firearms as it also thinks of ways to account all firearms.

"Out of last year's 1,731 firearms involved in criminal cases, only 12 are licensed while all the rest are unlicensed," de Leon disclosed.

Records showed that from 1993 until 2003, a total of 11,412 unlicensed firearms were used out of the 13,365 firearms used in different criminal cases. Only 1,953 were properly documented.

The PNP admitted that the sudden spate of killings, especially on high profile personalities, may be attributable to the continued proliferation of loose firearms.

In the first quarter of this year, a total of 1,477 reported crime incidents involved the use of 1,893 loose firearms, official police records show.

"We are looking into some options of the ballistics information management system. Since we have not started the program and we are now doing a manual, it has to be computerized," de Leon said.

Without giving an estimated timeframe, de Leon said the PNP will fast-track its schedule of implementing a computerized system for all licensed firearms, including the renewables, "so we'll have a computerized record of the ballistics."

He also encouraged carriers of loose firearms to avail of the government's amnesty until September.

To show the PNP's seriousness in this fight, de Leon reported that from January until May 15 of this year, a total of 817 loose firearms have already been confiscated, quite an "accomplishment" when compared to the 903 recovered in the entire year of 2004./DMS