Philippine officials will have 3500 checkpoints established throughout the country with nearly 100 in the capital city of Manila. Only uniformed police officers and soldiers on duty are permitted to carry firearms. Even off duty law officials are subject to arrest… (Is this a government set up precursor to a total gun ban in the Phillipines?… If it can be ‘made to work’ in the Phillipines… will the U.S. be next?… ~ S.I.A.)
With a history of election time violence and corruption, the Philippines began the nationwide gun ban on Sunday.
In addition to guns and related deadly weapons, also included in the ban are airguns, blades, hand grenades and other explosives. Even those licensed to have a gun are forbidden to carry their weapon.
The first day of the ban has resulted in 18 arrests, mostly people saying they didn’t know about the ban. That is not going to be an acceptable excuse according to authorities.
Violation of the gun ban is an election offense, which entails a punishment of six months to one year imprisonment.
Election time violence has plagued the country in recent times in 2004 and 2007. The most recent violence happened last November when 57 people were killed while on their way to register a candidate for governor in the southern province of Maguindanao.
The ban will last until June 9th, one month after the May 10th election day.
Robert Herriman – January 10, 2010 – source Examiner
January 21, 2010 at 8:45 pm
Obviously, the Filipinos are smarter than us Americans. We’re still shooting each other.