The latest school gun attack, at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University (AdZU) which claimed the lives of two students, only strengthens the calls for changes in the firearms law,  Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Juanito Victor “Jonvic’’ Remulla said.

Remulla vowed to push for the imposition of criminal liability on gun owners whose licensed firearms are used in criminal acts by another person, explaining that the current laws have a huge gap in accountability even when a licensed firearm ends up in the hands of another person and is used in a crime.

“Sa nangyari dito, wala kaming ma-charge dahil bitin ang batas (In what is happening, we could not file charges against anybody because the law is insufficient),” Remulla explained.

“Kailangan may criminal liability yung mga taong ito (These people should have criminal liability),” he added.

During the incident, Remulla confirmed that a grade 10 student was shot dead inside the AdZU senior high school campus with the sequence of the August 18 morning attack going livestream.

Following the shooting incident, the student gunman rushed to the school’s fifth floor and eventually jumped to his death.

“Ni-livestream ng estudyanteng shooter ang kanyang ginawang pamam@ril sa loob ng pinapasukang Ateneo de Zamboanga University kaninang umaga (August 18) (The student shooter live streamed the shooting inside the Ateneo de Zamboanga University where he went to early this morning),’’ Remulla noted.

Last June, Remulla said the adults’ negligence led to juvenile suspects aged 14- and 15-years old’s access to the firearms used to murder three and injure 20 fellow students at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City.

“Ang tinitingnan namin dito ay yung culpability ng tiyahin at ng magulang (What we are looking at is the culpability of the aunt and parents),’’ Remulla lamented.

Findings by the PNP revealed that the 14-year-old suspect used a Glock 17 pistol owned by his aunt, a police officer in Police Regional Office (PRO) 8, while the 15-year-old suspect was armed with a .38-caliber revolver registered in a security agency in Cebu.

Remulla underscored that the responsibility of securing firearms rests on the adults to prevent young family members from gaining access to them.

He said that owners of government-issued firearms face administrative sanctions or malversation, but existing laws do not specifically impose criminal liability simply because another person used the weapon to commit murder.