Allowing civilians to own semi-automatic rifles actually promotes responsible gun ownership, according to the Philippine National Police (PNP) as it allayed fears that the move may lead to the increase in criminal incidents across the country.
With almost 704,000 loose guns based on its record, PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said the decision would actually pave the way for the police to encourage gun owners to register their semi-automatic rifles.
And the process that a person undergoes to secure a License to Own and Possess Firearms (LTOPF) alone, including drug test and neuro-psychiatric test, is somehow a guarantee that the firearms would not fall on wrong hands—aside of course from law enforcement operation in worse case scenarios.
“The intention really here is we also want to advocate responsible gun ownership in the decision to amend (the Implementing Rules and Regulations) so that people who have these kinds of firearms would secure an LTOPF and have these guns registered,” said Fajardo.
“We also want to assure the public that all the safeguards are included in the law,” she added.
Fajardo is referring to the Republic Act 10591, or the "Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act", wherein its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) was amended by the PNP to pave the way for civilians to own semi-automatic rifles.
She explained that when the law was passed in June 2013, civilians were actually allowed to own firearms from caliber 7.62mm and below.
But when its IRR was passed in 2018, Fajardo said there was a different interpretation on the classification of firearms and this resulted in the inclusion of the provision on the IRR that gun ownership should not be above light weapons.
This prevented the civilians then from owning long firearms as these guns fall under the high-powered firearms which were interpreted in the IRR as having the capability for an automatic discharge.
While the amendment to the IRR still bars civilians from owning guns with automatic discharge, Fajardo explained that the amendment done in the IRR was more of a change in definition of high-powered firearms—which means that long firearms with no automatic discharge but with semi-automatic capability should still be accessible to civilians.
“So we just followed the intention of the framers of the law that civilians can own up to caliber 7.62mm firearms provided that they do not have full automatic capability,” said Fajardo.
The decision to allow civilians to own semi-automatic rifles was based on the study of the Technical Working Group created by the PNP.
The amendment was already forwarded to the University of the Philippines Law Center and will be implemented 15 days after the publication.