PNP: 1,808 election gun ban violators arrested, so far

MANILA, Philippines – The number of individuals who have violated the election period gun ban jumped to at 1,808 as of Wednesday, March 19.

According to data from the Philippine National Police (PNP) on Thursday, the violators were:

• 1,726 civilians
• 31 security guards
• 12 PNP personnel
• 10 Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) personnel
• Nine foreigners
• Six officers of other law enforcement agencies
• Six elected government officials
• Three children in conflict with the law
• Two Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU) Active Auxiliary
• Two appointed government officials
• One member of a communist terrorist group

Of the violators, 886 were arrested in police response operations, 321 in anti-illegal drugs operations, 154 in checkpoint operations, 118 in gun buy-bust operations and 329 in other law enforcement operations.

Metro Manila had the most violators with 588, followed by Central Luzon with 255, Central Visayas with 254,  and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) with 143.

The operations yielded 1,854 firearms confiscated, which are the following:

• 760 revolvers
• 518 pistols
• 70 replica guns
• 43 explosives
• 38 Class A firearms
• 15 rifles
• 13 shotguns
• Five Class B firearms
• 392 other types of firearms

READ: Gun ban starts January 12 as election period begins – PNP

The PNP and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) are implementing the ban on firearms during the election period in a bid to reduce violence ahead of the midterm polls on May 12.

 The ban began on January 12 and will end on June 11.