Senator Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa said Thursday that members of his family all know how to use guns as a necessary tool or instrument for peace — only to be used to defend people against criminals.

“I am ready. I am always ready,” De la Rosa said in Filipino during the opening of the 29th AFAD Defense and Sporting Arms Show running until Monday at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.

As a lawmaker who has to blow the whistle on criminals during Senate investigations, De la Rosa said he considers himself to be constantly in the crosshairs of syndicates and other dregs of society.

He cited the assassination of Negros Oriental Roel Degamo and the pilferage of portions of a P1.6 billion worth of shabu in Manila last October as examples of controversies he is investigating.

De la Rosa, the first chief of the Philippine National Police under the Duterte administration, chairs the Senate Committee on Public Order.

Interviewed by Daily Tribune, Alaric Topacio, president of the Association of Firearms and Ammunitions Dealers of the Philippines, said over 98 percent of firearms sold in the Philippines are for self-defense.

He stressed that AFAD has been pushing responsible gun ownership and that most of those who legally purchase guns do so only to protect themselves as a last recourse, or to engage in sports shooting.

Criminals, both Topacio and De la Rosa agreed, mostly use unlicensed firearms.

Topacio pointed out that criminals do not leave their guns behind just because there’s a gun ban. On the other hand, licensed gun owners, as law-abiding citizens, leave their guns at home during gun bans at the risk of being at the mercy of criminals, he added.

“Criminals rejoice when they’re the only ones, aside from the police, who have guns. It’s party time for them because they can always evade the cops while having easy pickings on the streets, victimizing civilians,” Joel, a gunsmith tending one of the stalls, said.

For the Sangguniang Kabataan and Barangay Elections, the Commission on Elections set the gun ban period from 28 August 2023 to 29 November.

Government data placed at about 1.5 million licensed gun owners in the Philippines. Estimates put the number of unlicensed firearms circulating at four times the number of licensed guns.

Legal gun owners need to regularly pass drug and neuro-psychiatric exams and to be without criminal records to keep their guns.

De la Rosa said the firearms and ammunition industry in the Philippines contributes to the economy in terms of jobs created and taxes paid.