HOUSE Speaker Faustino “Bojie” G. Dy III and Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand Alexander A. Marcos have filed a bill imposing stricter safe-storage requirements and greater accountability on firearm owners, as another shooting at Banga National High School in South Cotabato on Friday highlighted concerns over acceess to firearms.
House Bill No. 11387, or the proposed “Responsible Firearm Ownership and Safe Storage Act,” seeks to amend Republic Act No. 10591, the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act, by establishing stricter safe-storage requirements, mandatory gun-safety training, tougher penalties for unauthorized access, and a new offense covering criminally negligent firearm access.
The Banga shooting came after other school shootings specifically cited by Speaker Dy and Marcos in the explanatory note of HB 11387, including incidents in Tacloban City and Zamboanga City involving minors who allegedly gained access to firearms belonging or entrusted to adults.
“These incidents demonstrate that school-security measures alone cannot prevent firearm-related violence when children and other unauthorized individuals are able to obtain firearms from their homes or from persons entrusted with their custody,” Dy and Marcos said in the explanatory note.
The lawmakers pointed out that the measure is intended to close gaps in the existing firearms law by placing a clearer legal duty on registered owners and accountable custodians to properly secure weapons under their control.
“This bill strengthens responsible firearm ownership by requiring registered owners and accountable custodians, including public officers and employees entrusted with government-issued firearms, to exercise proper care in the storage, custody, and control of firearms and ammunition,” they said.
Under HB 11387, a firearm not under the immediate control of an authorized person must generally be stored unloaded in a secure storage device, with ammunition secured in a separately locked compartment or container.
Where a child or unauthorized individual lives in, regularly visits, works in, or may reasonably gain access to the premises, the owner or custodian would have to take enhanced precautions, including preventing access to keys, combinations, credentials or enrolled biometrics. The bill expressly provides that hiding a firearm or simply telling a child not to touch it does not constitute secure storage.
The proposal also requires applicants for firearm licenses to complete a gun-safety seminar and safe-storage course administered by the Philippine National Police (PNP) or an accredited provider and pass a written examination. License holders would have to undergo an PNP-approved safe-storage refresher before renewal.
HB 11387 would also allow the revocation, cancellation or suspension of a firearm license or permit when a licensee intentionally permits, or through negligence enables, an unlicensed or unauthorized individual to gain access to a registered firearm.
The measure imposes penalties on persons who knowingly sell, deliver, or otherwise make firearms available to unauthorized individuals. It provides stiffer penalties for public officers or employees who knowingly allow unauthorized possession or use of government-issued firearms, including dismissal from service and perpetual disqualification from public office.
Most significantly, the bill creates the offense of “criminally negligent unauthorized access,” covering cases in which a registered owner or accountable custodian has a legal duty to secure a firearm, negligently breaches that duty, and consequently enables an unauthorized person to obtain actual possession or use of the firearm or ammunition.
“Most importantly, the bill creates the offense of criminally negligent unauthorized access. A registered owner or accountable custodian may be held criminally liable when the person has a legal duty to secure or control a firearm or ammunition, negligently breaches that duty, and thereby enables an unlicensed or unauthorized individual to obtain actual possession or use thereof,” said Dy and Marcos.
The measure contains safeguards against liability when access results from robbery, theft, force, threat, fraud or tampering despite reasonable precautions, as well as exceptions covering lawful transfers, official issuance, supervised sporting or training use, emergency disarming and other circumstances negating negligence.
“Through these amendments, the bill seeks to prevent unauthorized access to firearms, protect children and the public from avoidable harm, and ensure that registered owners and accountable custodians whose negligence enables such access are held accountable in accordance with law.”
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