Have gun, will kill

By Al S. Mendoza

GUNS don’t kill.

It is the owner of the gun that kills.

Simple as that.

Didn’t Claudio Teehankee Jr. use his gun to kill two persons while wounding another one tragic night in 1991?

Didn’t Rolito Go use his gun to kill a hapless motorist after a senseless altercation over a senseless traffic issue a decade or so ago?

Give, own, guns and killings could happen.

Give no gun, own no gun, save a life.

No gun means minimizing killings (deaths can still happen, though, through other methods, like knifing or strangling).

With guns, there could be instant deaths.

Without guns, there could be fewer deaths.

Peace-loving persons, like Alaminos Mayor Nani Braganza, don’t want guns.

But many peace-loving persons argue: “That’s why we need guns because we love peace.”

Guns, they insist, are tools to keep peace – peace derived from driving away, eliminating if you will, peace-breakers.

So, who’s right, Guv Spines or Mayor Nani?

Guv Spines has become the so-called lone ranger in the battle to have guns.

Guv Spines wants to give Pangasinan’s 1,330 barangay chairmen (kapitans) a shotgun each.

What’s this we are trying to build, a haven of peace or a cult of the gun?

Guv Spines is being opposed not only by Mayor Nani but also Archbishop Cruz and, ironically, Dagupan’s chief of police, Mariano Luis Verzosa.

Oh, well, Guv Spines has an ally in Sta. Barbara Mayor Rey Velasco, a former deputy PNP chief.

To pursue his case, Mayor Nani has convinced his city council to barAlaminos’ kapitans, through a resolution, to receive Guv Spines’ shotguns.

In a PUNCH report, about 17 of Alaminos’ 39 kapitans, who had earlier received a shotgun each, now want to return the firearms to Guv Spines.

As I write this, Guv Spines has said he would fight for the kapitans‘ right to keep the shotgun.

“If they want to keep it, why stop them?” Guv Spines was quoted as saying.

In short, make the gun thing a voluntary option.

“The issue here is why are we arming civilians? Is the peace and order situation in Pangasinan bad?” asked Mayor Nani.

Dagupan’s Verzosa: “It should only be the police who should be given firearms.”

Sta. Barbara Mayor Velasco: “Nothing wrong with arming the kapitans. Let’s simply make sure that proper guidelines are followed in the use of the shotguns.”

Archbishop Cruz: “Many of our kapitans are not even equipped with the knowledge to handle a shotgun.”

I won’t teach my child to handle a gun. I won’t even encourage him to own one even if he’s past puberty.

To be peaceful is not to appreciate a gun.

Anything that symbolizes death erases peace.

(Readers may reach columnist at also147@yahoo.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/general-admission/ For reactions to this column, click “Send MESSAGES, OPINIONS, COMMENTS” on default page.)

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