CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY —- In response to a recent directive of the Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, the Police Regional Office of Northern Mindanao (PRO-10) has vowed to conduct gun safety training on a regular basis.
The PNP national headquarters has issued a directive on gun safety training following an accidental firing incident in Laguna.
Maj. Joann Navarro, PRO-10 spokesperson, said in a phone interview on Tuesday, Nov. 29, welcomed the conduct of a frequent Modified Handgun Marksmanship Training, however, they also need to consider some other factors that might affect the job of the police personnel.
“If we say in the logistical aspect, we really need supply in our bullets and also our police personnel have jobs on the ground, specially the conduct of our police operations and proactive and reactive measures,” Navarro said.
“Here in the region, we will do our best. If it will not be weekly, at least we will do it on a regular basis,” she added.
The gun safety reminders, Navarro said, can also be done during Police Information Continuing Education (PICE) of every police unit in order for the commanders to remind their personnel about the gun safety rules.
Under the basic general rules of safe gun handling, the gun muzzle must always point in a safe direction; the firearm must never point to anyone or anything that doesn’t want to shoot and the finger be kept off the trigger and outside the trigger guard until ready to shoot.
The PRO-10 has been conducting the modified handgun marksmanship training twice per year based on the Command Memorandum Circular No. 22-2020, dated November 2, 2020.
As of this year, 75 percent of the police personnel in the entire Northern Mindanao region had already undergone the modified handgun marksmanship training for the second quarter.
The proper cleaning of firearms has also been taught to all of the police personnel to avoid any firearm malfunction during police operations.
It can be recalled that a male police officer, who was a member of the local Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) in Laguna died on November 24 after he was hit when one of the guns they were cleaning accidentally went off.
The PRO-10 spokesperson confirmed that there is no accidental firing in the region this year involving police personnel.