Gun Ownership In The Philippines

[Mr Lee]

I am pondering buying a gun here or bringing a gun over from the states to keep in our apartment and to go target shooting with. Two things come to mind,1) are there any good target ranges in Cebu at least 50 feet to the target because I like shooting handguns at 50 feet?2) does anyone know how I would go about legally bringing a couple of our handguns here from the USA?My wife is a Filipina and she has a few guns of her own back in the states and is a pretty good shot. We both have permit to carry there and it would sure be nice if we could bring over a few of our guns legally before we move here.

Edited March 7, 2009 by Mr. Lee

[Markham]

Lee,You weren't thinking of bringing them in your luggage, surely? That'd almost certainly guarantee you lodgings at Camp Delta - hey, they may even keep it open just for you! As you will - or should - know, you personally can not own a gun here but Nila can. However, I am quite sure you will need all kinds of export permits from the US as well as import permits here, should you wish to ship them. That and the shipping - which no doubt would have to be via a secure carrier - would probably be very expensive.What is this fascination Americans have with guns? The "right to bear arms" is a bit of an anachronism now, surely. All it took for guns to be made illegal in the UK was one man killing a number of innocent children and adults at a Scottish school in 1979. That scene has been repeated countless times in the US since that date and yet it seems that the rights of gun owners are more important than victims' right to life. The NRA's oft-quoted "guns don't kill, people kill" is wearing a bit thin.Don't get me wrong, I am not trolling and I am not completely anti-firearm. I own a matched pair of Purdey's which I use for grouse and pheasant when I'm in the UK in-season. But I do not keep these at home, rather they are locked-away in a strong-room up in Scotland, for safety and insurance reasons. I will probably sell them to my cousins who run a commercial game shoot and whose birds I've been known to bag. I would never consider owning a firearm - or allowing my SO to - here.Mark

[Old55]

A foreigner cannot carry or own a gun in the Philippines. If your wife is dual citizen she can own guns after doing the correct paperwork. As I understand it you can shoot the gun if she is with you. I know of several foreigners who do so on Leyte.There is a range near the new Mactan Bridge, Cebu City side. For or five years ago I chatted with a PNP officer who shot competitively at that range. I used to shoot IHMSA, so we talked hand guns. He said there are some local shooting clubs who use the range. They do some kind of police type competitive shooting. I do not know if any foreigners belong to those clubs. During a stay at Plantation Bay some time back I noticed in their activities one was shooting. I asked if it was skeet. The guy said anything you want. I did not ask any other details but understood the range was on Mactan Island someplace.

[Mr Lee]

A foreigner cannot carry or own a gun in the Philippines. If your wife is dual citizen she can own guns after doing the correct paperwork. As I understand it you can shoot the gun if she is with you. I know of several foreigners who do so on Leyte.There is a range near the new Mactan Bridge, Cebu City side. For or five years ago I chatted with a PNP officer who shot competitively at that range. I used to shoot IHMSA, so we talked hand guns. He said there are some local shooting clubs who use the range. They do some kind of police type competitive shooting. I do not know if any foreigners belong to those clubs. During a stay at Plantation Bay some time back I noticed in their activities one was shooting. I asked if it was skeet. The guy said anything you want. I did not ask any other details but understood the range was on Mactan Island someplace.

Thanks for the info, actually foreigners can own guns but not everyone knows the ins and outs of doing it. I was offered a carry permit while in Manila last year and again in Mindanao, so it must be able to be done. I do not feel that I need a gun here in our condo because they have pretty good security, but I do like to target practice and so does my wife and if anyone was a bad guy, it sure would not be a good place to be in front of her gun since she does not miss and neither do I. She is a mean pistol packing momma in the states and if she could get a carry permit here, I would trust her to protect us while in the Philippines should the need arise and it was beyond my capabilities without a firearm but I would not be beyond taking the firearm and using if the opportunity presented itself and I had to.

[Mr Lee]

Lee,You weren't thinking of bringing them in your luggage, surely? That'd almost certainly guarantee you lodgings at Camp Delta - hey, they may even keep it open just for you! As you will - or should - know, you personally can not own a gun here but Nila can. However, I am quite sure you will need all kinds of export permits from the US as well as import permits here, should you wish to ship them. That and the shipping - which no doubt would have to be via a secure carrier - would probably be very expensive.What is this fascination Americans have with guns? The "right to bear arms" is a bit of an anachronism now, surely. All it took for guns to be made illegal in the UK was one man killing a number of innocent children and adults at a Scottish school in 1979. That scene has been repeated countless times in the US since that date and yet it seems that the rights of gun owners are more important than victims' right to life. The NRA's oft-quoted "guns don't kill, people kill" is wearing a bit thin.Don't get me wrong, I am not trolling and I am not completely anti-firearm. I own a matched pair of Purdey's which I use for grouse and pheasant when I'm in the UK in-season. But I do not keep these at home, rather they are locked-away in a strong-room up in Scotland, for safety and insurance reasons. I will probably sell them to my cousins who run a commercial game shoot and whose birds I've been known to bag. I would never consider owning a firearm - or allowing my SO to - here.Mark

Mark, I think I clearly said legally in my above post, so no I would not bring them in my luggage unless the Philippines government allowed me to.As for a fascination with guns, I have been legally carrying a gun most of my adult life and I have unfortunately had to pull one a number of times during my life, to defend myself and others both during work and during leisure ....... It has already been proven by none other than John Rainy in a similar discussion on the other forum that the UK without any guns is more dangerous than the US with guns, because they just use knives or bats or pipes to kill or maim people, so the problem is not the tool but the people who use the tools and since you mentioned it, guns do not kill people, people who use the guns kill people, just like pencils do not make mistakes but the people who hold them do. Also matches do not cause arson, the people who use them improperly cause fires.Britain, Australia top U.S. in violent crime http://www.geoffmetcalf.com/guncontrol_20010302.htmlNow to quote Thomas Jefferson : " The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government. " Now just as you do not understand the so called fascination, I do not understand how people from any nation could ever be like sheep and give up their rights to protect themselves or to be able to enjoy a sport, so Mark, I guess we are even. An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject. Did you even notice that people in the UK are called subjects.Mark, I do not know if you know it or not but more people are killed by cars and drunks behind the wheel, than by guns, does that mean we should ban cars or should we maybe put the AH's who drive the cars and kill people behind bars permanently so that they cannot do it again, as we should with the people who misuse guns...... Fact is the criminal justice system is broken and the bleeding heart liberals are breaking it even more but giving criminals too many rights. And in closing, Mark, I really find this to be a fruitless discussion, because I will never change your mind and you will never change mine, but guns have saved my life and I have saved others lives because I had a gun.

[volstateguy]

The only people's hands you would take guns out of by making gun ownership illegal is law abiding citizens IMHO. Criminals would still own guns and they would have less deterrent of walking into the law abiding citizens home and robbing them if they know the ordinary law abiding citizen does not have the means to protect themselves. Just my 2 cents.

[Markham]

Mark, I think I clearly said legally in my above post, so no I would not bring them in my luggage unless the Philippines government allowed me to.

It's not simply the Philippines Government who won't allow you, but the US Government and the airlines!

It has already been proven by none other than John Rainy in a similar discussion on the other forum that the UK without any guns is more dangerous than the US with guns

Sorry but that is not a cogent argument to carry a gun. The figures quoted in the piece you referenced are out of date and inaccurate. Over 30% of the population have been affected by violent crime is a gross distortion: the figure is less than 10% according to the Government's own statistics. Violent crime has been on a steady decline over the last 8 or 9 years.

Now to quote Thomas Jefferson : " The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government. "

Well that was said over two hundred years ago under completely different circumstances. America had successfully fought the Colonial Power and declared independence from Whitehall rule. I don't believe America is, or considers itself to be, a colony any longer.

Now just as you do not understand the so called fascination, I do not understand how people from any nation could ever be like sheep and give up their rights to protect themselves or to be able to enjoy a sport, so Mark, I guess we are even.

I have not given up any rights to participate in my chosen sport - game shooting. However, my gun ownership is far more rigorously controlled and I do need to obtain special permissions to move my guns - this is something that doesn't actually prove too problematic since they are stored on the same private property as they are used. Our histories are somewhat different and the average Briton doesn't see the need to rise up and revolt.

An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject. Did you even notice that people in the UK are called subjects.

No! I am a citizen of the United Kingdom, that is what my Passport says. Technically I am also a subject of Her Majesty the Queen - if the head of state is a monarch then the citizenry are ipso facto subjects of that monarch. There is no correlation whatsoever between citizens, subjects and whether or not you're armed. There's no constitutional difference between a soldier in the British Army (who is armed) or an armed police officer and a private British citizen.

Fact is the criminal justice system is broken and the bleeding heart liberals are breaking it even more but giving criminals too many rights.

I can almost completely agree with you on that; the scales of justice do seem to be weighted in favour of the criminal. Mark

[Mr Lee]

Sorry but that is not a cogent argument to carry a gun. The figures quoted in the piece you referenced are out of date and inaccurate. Over 30% of the population have been affected by violent crime is a gross distortion: the figure is less than 10% according to the Government's own statistics. Violent crime has been on a steady decline over the last 8 or 9 years.Mark

As I said Mark, there is no point in arguing with you because most people who come from gun less countries are so brainwashed that they could never see the light at the end of the tunnel until the train hit them. I am done wasting my fingers but it does not surprise me that you moved to the Philippines to get away from your oppressive society and you will probably never admit that either.When all is said and done, we are still friends with different views. Edited March 3, 2009 by Mr. Lee
edited to add the word most

[johnb]

Sorry but that is not a cogent argument to carry a gun. The figures quoted in the piece you referenced are out of date and inaccurate. Over 30% of the population have been affected by violent crime is a gross distortion: the figure is less than 10% according to the Government's own statistics. Violent crime has been on a steady decline over the last 8 or 9 years.Mark

As I said Mark, there is no point in arguing with you because most people who come from gun less countries are so brainwashed that they could never see the light at the end of the tunnel until the train hit them. I am done wasting my fingers but it does not surprise me that you moved to the Philippines to get away from your oppressive society and you will probably never admit that either.When all is said and done, we are still friends with different views.

Hi Lee, I Edited March 3, 2009 by Mr. Lee
edited to add the word most

[Mr Lee]

Sorry but that is not a cogent argument to carry a gun. The figures quoted in the piece you referenced are out of date and inaccurate. Over 30% of the population have been affected by violent crime is a gross distortion: the figure is less than 10% according to the Government's own statistics. Violent crime has been on a steady decline over the last 8 or 9 years.Mark

As I said Mark, there is no point in arguing with you because most people who come from gun less countries are so brainwashed that they could never see the light at the end of the tunnel until the train hit them. I am done wasting my fingers but it does not surprise me that you moved to the Philippines to get away from your oppressive society and you will probably never admit that either.When all is said and done, we are still friends with different views.

Hi Lee, I

Edited March 3, 2009 by Mr. Lee
edited to add the word most