Friday, May 17, 2013

The Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act Senate Bill No. 3397

It looks like the Anti-Gun lobby won a major, MAJOR victory for Gun Control under the PNoy Administration. One big problem with PNoy is that his financial backers, among them the rich and powerful Ayala clan, have Anti-Gun sentiments. In fact, rumors has it that Anti-Gun Advocates like Nandy Pacheco and his group has been pestering the Administration for tighter gun control laws as soon as he first stepped into office.

Now it looks like they finally got their wish thru the Administration's allies in the legislature, who has come up with the with the "Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act Senate Bill No. 3397". Here is a direct link to a copy of the law itself in full for everyone's reference: http://www.senate.gov.ph/lisdata/1507312687!.pdf

While everyone was talking and arguing about the Reproductive Health (RH) and Cyber Crime Bills, it seems the legislature quietly worked on this bill and got under everybody's radar as it has now PASSED BOTH houses as of February 5, 2013. There was NO NEWS of President Aquino vetoing this bill, so I ASSUME that this has NOW PASSED INTO LAW as our laws states that any bill passed by both houses and not vetoed after 30 days automatically becomes law. 30 days after February 5, 2013 was March 7, 2013, or around 2 months ago.

'Firearms License Types'
The law is quite comprehensive, with many, many changes, so I will just try to point out the major changes I saw after reading it. First important change is that FIREARMS LICENSES will now be classified to different TYPES, from "Type 1" to "Type 5". Each type is differentiated mainly by the NUMBER OF FIREARMS each person is allowed to own based on the type of license. The most basic license type, "Type 1", allows only a maximum of 2 firearms, while the most advanced license type, "Type 5" allows up to more than 15 firearms.

An additional requirement has also come up: All holders of license types are required to STORE their firearms in a VAULT or CONTAINER with LOCK AND KEY. Also, holders of type 3 to 5 licenses will be subject INSPECTIONS and BOND requirements.

I am sure that this will increase the cost of owning firearms as the cost for the license type will PROGRESSIVELY become MORE EXPENSIVE the higher the type or class of license is.

'Light Weapon Classification'
Another important change is the classification of "Light Weapons". These are defined as self-loading weapons with full auto capability, and has two sub-classifications: "Class A", which means light weapons up to 7.62 mm caliber; And "Class B", which refers to weapons that exceed 7.62 mm caliber. This second type also covers other weapons like Grenade Launchers, Mortars, Heavy Machine Guns, etc.

Even more important is the fact that civilians will NOT anymore be allowed to buy these "Light Weapons". And not only that: Civilian ownership of a Light Weapon AMMUNITION or MAJOR PART is not allowed under this law.

However, all civilians owning registered Light Weapons before enactment of the law will be allowed to keep their firearms. But the law seems to have been enacted last March 7, 2013, so no chance for anybody to do any last minute buying.

The implication of this seems to be that;
- Civilians can still own High Powered rifles, as long as they are not full-auto capable.
- Modifications like I do on my Glock by putting a select-fire full-auto switch is now explicitly ILLEGAL.
- Light Weapons are strictly off-limits to civilians, even their ammunition and major parts

'License and Registration'
Before, license and registration of firearms were one and the same. Not with this law. This law separates the License AND Registration of firearms, and specifies different renewal periods for each. Licenses need to be renewed EVERY 2 YEARS, while Registration need to be renewed EVERY 4 YEARS. Before, License and Registration are renewed at the same time up to every 5 years.

This again makes firearms ownership more expensive as you need to spend time and money to process these renewals, and they are at much shorter intervals than they were before. Also a lot more hassle and effort just to take care of your little babies.

'Penalties'
Even more alarming on this law are the punishments set for violations: Minimum penalty is Prision Mayor or "Major Prison Term" of no less than 6 years, and maximum penalty is Reclusion Perpetua or "Life Imprisonment" of no less than 30 years imprisonment.

Unlawful ownership of ONE firearm or Class A Weapon is automatically "Prision Mayor"; 3 or more of such weapons and it is "Reclusion Perpetua". Unlawfully own a Class B weapon, and you get "Reclusion Perpetua". Even just ownership of ammunition and major part of a Class A or B weapon will get you a minimum of "Prision Mayor".

'Parting Shot'
I am a bit confused by this law. It should have been passed 2 months ago, but so far the Philippine National Police (PNP) has been pretty quiet about changing its rules. Perhaps I missed something important about the law out there. At any rate, the above items are what I know about the law right now.

As I understand it, after a new law is passed, implementing rules and guidelines still need to be drafted, and hearings will have to be made to the public to ensure fair representation before the law is implemented, and perhaps that is where the delay is coming from. It seems the PNP has not gotten into the drafting, review and approval of the implementing guidelines

Reviewing and analyzing laws are not easy, it takes a lot of careful reading and analysis to understand their implications. For now, the above items are the most important ones that I understand, but I am sure as time goes by and more and more people get to read and analyze it, more and more implications will come up. But definitely this law will have a HUGE mainly NEGATIVE effect on gun owners in the country. Next I will try to note down on a new blog its effects on me personally as a gun owner, and how it might effect other people, too.

No comments:

Post a Comment