Two of the most horrific gun crimes were committed recently just as the Philippine National Police was enforcing the firearms ban imposed by the Commission on Elections around this year's Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections.

One involved the gunning down of a broadcaster as he was live-streaming inside his radio show. Those unfortunate enough to have stumbled on the footage on social media would find it hard to remove those images from their minds.

The attack was carried out by one of two men who barged into his home studio, purportedly after pretending to be there to make a public call on the broadcaster's show. A third cohort, according to reports, was waiting on the getaway motorcycle.

The three bumbling fools even crashed their motorbike to escape. Amateurs! They're only good at using treachery to kill unarmed people.

Equally barbaric was the point-blank shooting of a couple inside a provincial bus, an incident that also went viral on social media after it was caught on a closed-circuit TV camera.

The summary executions were clearly undertaken by hitmen, whose services could be had for as low as P20,000. As such, the PNP should unmask these assassins and ultimately catch the masterminds.

Yes, those two incidents were clearly hit jobs because, as seen from the footage, the attacks were not simple crimes of opportunity, but were apparently planned and paid for.

Every time gun bans are imposed during election periods, the armed criminals jump for joy because then they'd have easy pickings of people, including those who are licensed firearms owners, but no thanks to the Comelec, are deprived of the tools to defend themselves.

There's scant evidence these gun bans have prevented election violence, thus it was particularly capricious of the Comelec to order an extended firearms ban the last time around.

And forget about applying for a gun ban exemption from the Comelec. Unless you hobnob with the powers in the poll body, applying for one would just be a waste of time. Ask that Metro Manila mayor whose application was turned down although he was not running for a position then.