EDITORIAL - Gun culture

Police reported yesterday the arrest of at least 12 individuals for indiscriminately firing their guns during the New Year’s revelry. None of the 12, however, was a suspect in the death of an 11-year-old girl in Abra who was killed by a stray bullet during the New Year’s Eve celebration.

Cops also faced a blank wall in the case of a teenage girl in Caloocan who was hit in the head by a stray bullet as she watched the fireworks outside her home on New Year’s Eve. Unlike another Caloocan resident, seven-year-old Stephanie Nicole Ella, who was killed by a stray bullet in last year’s revelry, the latest victim appears to be on the road to recovery after doctors extracted the bullet from her skull.

Yesterday Caloocan police tried to piece together what happened and narrow down the area from where the gun might have been fired. In Abra, a reward of P100,000 was offered for any information that might lead to the arrest of the person who fired the shot that killed the 11-year-old.

As Ella’s case has shown, however, finding the culprits can be nearly impossible in a country awash with unlicensed guns. For sure, the stray bullets did not come from any of the police service firearms whose muzzles were sealed before New Year’s Eve, and which were unsealed in another ceremony yesterday. This does not necessarily mean that the stray bullets did not come from cops, a number of whom own more than one gun.

Cops, however, are not the only owners of guns in this country. Because of weak law enforcement, there are many civilians who pack guns for their own protection especially in lawless areas. Together with gun enthusiasts, they are usually the ones who bother to secure licenses and permits and submit their weapons for ballistics record keeping. Members of organized crime rings have well-stocked arsenals of unlicensed guns. Even petty thieves can easily obtain paltiks that are easy to get rid of if used in crime.

Still, certain persons might have spotted a neighbor firing a gun during New Year’s Eve. Anyone with information that could pin down the culprits should tip off investigators. Finding those responsible for killing and wounding children is not a completely lost cause. One person’s celebration should not be another one’s grief.