25 Sept 02

Gun situation in the Philippines similar to that in South Africa. From a friend there:

"American and European gun manufacturers are having great difficulty keeping up with orders from our local dealers, despite high prices. I have had several Colts and Glocks on order for nearly a year. They're still not here at all or are bottled up in customs and may never be released.

As a result, we're stuck with less popular brands from Israel, Brazil and the Czech Republic, which, curiously, seem to have no problem getting into the country. Few people are willing to let go of their 1911s and Hi Powers. Even the Beretta 92F is a rare find. Glocks and SIGs, even used ones, are commanding scalper's prices. As you might expect, CZs (still relatively cheap) are enjoying brisk sales.

It is clear the government here (like the one everywhere else) wants citizens to be unarmed. Making guns illegal is a problem for them, because it requires unpopular legislation to be voted on by politicians who want to be reelected. However, making guns ‘unavailable' requires no legislation at all, and it can be done by simply screwing around with import regulations, which are largely ambiguous and incompressible to begin with. That is obviously what is taking place here."

/John