Explanation of Vote on Senate Bill No. 1155
Amending the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto

When rules are complicated and the process in securing permits are complex, it leads not to compliance, to but to evasion.

This is true whether in taxes, in business permits, or in the license to own guns.

As to the latter, public interest dictates that every firearm in this land must be accounted for.

But when permitting rules have become unreasonably redundant, gun owners are forced to dodge them.

And when this happens, it leads to the proliferation of loose firearms.

But lest the intent of this bill be misconstrued as the liberalization of gun ownership, let me stress that it is not—and is in fact, far from it.

The requirements, the hurdles, the tests, the clearances remain. In the checklist of what the applicant must do and what he must submit, not one of the existing ones will be taken out.

What this bill intends to do, however, is to make the birthday of the owner the common expiry date of his licenses, just like in the case of the driver’s license.

And, instead of different expiry dates, this bill seeks to grant the registration and license to own with a uniform validity of 5 years, while the permit to carry a validity of 2 years.

These are not permanent privileges, but can be revoked anytime for due cause. The permit to own or carry a gun is not an irrevocable franchise.

The toll of red tape can be gleaned in this number: Close to 500,000 registered gun owners who, perhaps out of compliance fatigue, were unable to secure the necessary permits four years ago.