Gun owners urged to renew expired licenses

Police will not be issuing police clearances to gun owners who haven’t renewed their gun licenses.

Supt. Rex Derilo, chief of Firearms Explosives Security Guards and Supervisory Sections (FESAGSS), said the move aims to ensure that all expired gun licenses will be renewed.

Derilo said it was Chief Supt. Marcelo Garbo, chief of Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), who recommended the policy to PNP chief Nicanor Bartolome.

Derilo said FESAGSS will submit quarterly records to all police clearance issuance offices and police stations for them to use as reference for those who failed to renew their gun licenses.

Derilo said they will also ask the Highway Patrol Group (HPG) not to issue vehicle clearances to gun owners with expired licenses.

Derilo said that as of September, there are 68,983 registered guns in Central Visayas but only 19,719 with renewed licenses.

Gun owners who failed to renew their firearms licenses despite their series of information dissemination could be criminally and administratively charged./CORRESPONDENT CHITO O. ARAGON