Bullit Marquez/Associated Press
Glen Elaine Ella removed items left in the coffin of her daughter Stephanie Nicole Ella, 7, who was hit with a stray bullet as their family watched New Year's fireworks.
MANILA — A fatal shooting in a central Philippine courtroom on Tuesday added impetus to a growing national debate over firearms regulation in a country with an enthusiastic gun culture much like America’s.
Calls for tighter controls have been prompted by a series of shootings in the last few weeks, starting with the Jan. 2 death of a 7-year-old girl who was one of about 40 people around the country hit accidentally by celebratory New Year’s gunfire. On Jan. 4, a failed local candidate opened fire on his village neighbors, killing 8 people — including a pregnant woman and child — and wounding 10. Then a gun battle at a police roadblock on Jan. 6 left 13 dead.
On Tuesday, a Canadian man, John Pope, opened fire in a courtroom in Cebu, killing a neighbor with whom he had a legal dispute and the neighbor’s lawyer. He also wounded another person before dying of a gunshot wound; officials gave varying accounts about whether Mr. Pope had shot himself or had been hit by police fire.
Filipino law allows citizens — but not foreigners — to keep guns at home, subject to registration and background-check requirements, and target shooting is a popular pastime. The country’s president, Benigno S. Aquino III, enjoys sport shooting.
Guns can usually be carried in public with a permit, but a temporary ban has been imposed in the hope of curtailing violence associated with national elections scheduled for May.
The country’s gun controls are not well enforced, said Norman Cabrera, secretary-general of the Ang Kapatiran Party, which supports tighter screening for gun permits and longer jail terms for gun crimes.
“You can go to any gun store and buy a firearm, and they will do all the paperwork for you,” Mr. Cabrera said. “You come back in a week, and you have your gun, your license — even your psychiatric test is completed for you. All these things can be worked out for you by the gun store.”
Mr. Cabrera acknowledged that it would be difficult to pass stricter gun laws in the Philippines, where the police estimate that there are 1.2 million registered firearms and about 500,000 unregistered guns in private hands among a population of about 95 million.
“We have many influences from the United States; the gun culture is one of these influences,” Mr. Cabrera said. “Unfortunately, the Philippines has adopted one of the things that is not good about the United States — its love for guns.”
Ernesto Tabujara, who heads a major gun rights group, Peaceful Responsible Owners of Guns, said gun ownership is a necessity in the Philippines,. “We have rampant crime, and the police and military are often involved,” he said. “We are not as passionate about our guns as Americans. We just want to survive.”
Nandy Pacheco, the head of Gunless Society, an advocacy group, noted ruefully that mass shootings had been so frequent lately that an episode like the courtroom shooting “is not news any more.” But it was not clear whether the revived debate over guns would yield any government action.
“People are talking about it, and legislators are talking about it,” Mr. Cabrera said. “But we don’t know if in a few weeks or months this will die down.”
Court Shooting Highlights Growing Gun Debate in Philippines
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Court Shooting Highlights Growing Gun Debate in Philippines
