Civilians may soon own semi-automatic rifles — PNP

PNP Headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City. (Photo from the PNP Facebook page)

MANILA, Philippines — Civilians will soon be allowed to own semi-automatic rifles after the Philippine National Police made some amendments to specific provisions of the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act or Republic Act  (RA) 10591, according to PNP Spokesperson, Colonel Jean Fajardo. 

Fajardo explained that PNP created a technical working group to study some provisions of RA 10591, which resulted in minor adjustments to the law’s implementing rules and regulations (IRR). 

“Private citizens can now have a license to own rifles with the classification of semi-automatic, particularly 7.62 below or M14,” the PNP official said in a press briefing on Monday. 

Fajardo added that the adjustments made by the police technical working group to the IRR have been submitted to the University of the Philippines Law Center for publication and will take effect 15 days after publication.

RA 10591 was signed into law in 2013 and previously allowed civilians to own high-powered firearms.

In 2018, however, following the Marawi Siege, the police force, headed by former chief and now-Senator Ronald dela Rosa, issued its IRR during the administration of former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.

Its revision was also filed the same year after several units, such as the Firearms and Explosives Office and the Supervisory Office for Security and Investigation Agencies of the PNP Civil Security Group, raised concerns about the issued IRR.

This forced the PNP to create a technical working group, which later recommended the revisions, which included barring civilians from owning high-powered firearms.

Based on the PNP-Firearms and Explosives Office, an individual must submit pertinent documents, including an application form, a National Police Clearance, a Gun Collector Certificate, a birth certificate, and a copy of a valid ID, among many other documents.