EDITORIAL - Muzzled again

As in previous years, the muzzles of police service firearms are again being sealed with tape. This has to be the only country where such a measure has become a necessary part of preparations for the New Year revelry.

The measure was adopted after several individuals, most of them children, died from stray bullets during the holiday revelry in the past years. Almost all the cases are unsolved. Certain individuals have been arrested for firing their guns to celebrate the holidays in previous years, but their revelry has not been matched with any deaths from stray bullets.

Public suspicion has focused on individuals authorized to carry guns, so the police and some military units have resorted to muzzling the service firearms of their personnel. If the seal is broken, the cop or soldier must have a valid explanation for firing the gun.

Police and soldiers, however, are not the only ones who carry guns in this country. Civilians, militias, jail guards, members of the National Bureau of Investigation and security units of various government agencies also carry firearms. Ordinary people possess high-powered guns and grenades even if this is against the law. Criminal gangs, particularly those engaged in lucrative activities such as carjacking, kidnapping and drug trafficking, have sophisticated armories.

And even if the muzzles of police and military service firearms are sealed, many of these security personnel own other guns, a number of which aren’t even registered. How does one protect the public from stray bullets fired from such weapons?

Public vigilance can help. Smartphones can record evidence of celebratory gunfire. Anyone seen firing a gun indiscriminately to celebrate the New Year must be reported immediately to authorities. Such irresponsible revelry has killed and maimed, and must be stopped.