Guns in the Philippines

[schneiderguy]

This is my first post since I don't often have anything intelligent to contribute :p

I had the opportunity to go to Manila last week for work. I thought you guys might find the following interesting since especially (1) was surprising to me:

1. There are guns everywhere in plain view. Armed security is present in front of almost every building, even if it's just a convenience store or fast food restaurant. Places like that would have the guard armed with a handgun only. I'd say about 75% were carrying 1911s (looked new-ish, presumably Armscor manufactured), with a smattering of well worn revolvers (mostly S&W but I did see one Colt) and an occasional non-1911 semiauto (I saw one Glock, a Beretta 92 with almost no finish remaining, and a stainless 3rd gen S&W). Only a few of the guys with a semiauto actually had a magazine in the gun. I didn't get close enough to see if the revolvers were loaded but they usually had six cartridges in loops on their belt so I'm guessing maybe not. Outside of fancy hotels and malls the guards had both handguns and long guns. The long gun of choice was the pump action shotgun, either an 870 or Mossberg 500. I saw one Benelli semiauto as well. Couldn't tell if the shotguns were loaded and I didn't see any guards with a rifle.

2. "Gun culture" is visible, which was nice to see considering that most people in Asia don't have much or any ability to own a firearm. I saw a couple of cars with Glock stickers in the rear window as well as advertisements for gun stores.

3. One of my coworkers from our Manila office was nice enough to tag along with me to one of their local indoor ranges. They had a pretty nice facility, with the left half of the range being setup for what looked like IPSC/IDPA and the right half of the range setup for static targets between 5-20m. It even had an attached cafe named Kiss Kiss Bang Bang :rolleyes: My coworker had never shot a gun before, so I rented a S&W 686 with .38spl to start and then we moved up to a H&K VP9 once she was comfortable with the revolver. We shot at 5m and I thought she did pretty well for a first timer. The group on the orange circle is mine and the rest are hers. Her grip could use a little bit of work but I didn't want to critique her too much at first since she was doing reasonably well and having a good time:

https://i.imgur.com/Fmw1vU0.jpg

Interestingly, the VP9 (and its 15 round magazine that we shot with it) is something I cannot currently purchase from a gun store where I live (California) :confused:

[UNK]

There are a bunch of old school smiths there too.

[Baldanders]

Thanks for the informative post!

Doesn't Armscor make more 1911's than anyone else on the planet?

[donlapalma]

Great to read that being a Filipino, although I've only been there as a small kid. I would love to go back and shoot with my cousins and uncles.

[JAD]

I traveled a lot in the phils 1995-2012, mostly around Manila, and there was a strong gun culture that seemed like it faded under Gloria and apparently has resurged under Duerte. I shot there a bunch, and heard about some guys who had access to arms while visiting. It was always a difficult place to do business, but a lot of fun in some ways.

[TGS]

Only a few of the guys with a semiauto actually had a magazine in the gun. I didn't get close enough to see if the revolvers were loaded but they usually had six cartridges in loops on their belt so I'm guessing maybe not. Outside of fancy hotels and malls the guards had both handguns and long guns.

It's always fun looking at the gun culture and security apparatus overseas. What you wrote is super common in developing and third world countries. Even low-rent armed guards in the US are pretty high quality when compared to 3/4 of the world. Armed guards from a better company like rsa-otc operates would literally qualify as top quality royal guards in many places I've been.

Worst I've ever seen was an Uzi with the mag welded in place and some undetermined number/undetermined vintage of ammo in the magazine......that, or the Indian police/guard on a highway toll post carrying a single shot shotgun from the British colonial days, presumably black powder (who knows what powder it was loaded with, if loaded). When we joke about fudds treating their CCW piece as a talisman, keep in mind that guns are literally talismans in a good portion of the world and if you actually aim they consider you to be committing murder, even if you were otherwise justified.

K9s that are just random dogs with zero training, "handlers" with zero training, and X-ray imagers/mag screeners with no training who are just staring at an empty screen or wave you through after the mag beeps are also the norm, even in a "modern" country such as Russia.

[Duelist]

It's always fun looking at the gun culture and security apparatus overseas. What you wrote is super common in developing and third world countries. Even low-rent armed guards in the US are pretty high quality when compared to 3/4 of the world. Armed guards from a better company like rsa-otc operates would literally qualify as top quality royal guards in many places I've been.

Worst I've ever seen was an Uzi with the mag welded in place and some undetermined number/undetermined vintage of ammo in the magazine......that, or the Indian police/guard on a highway toll post carrying a single shot shotgun from the British colonial days, presumably black powder (who knows what powder it was loaded with, if loaded). When we joke about fudds treating their CCW piece as a talisman, keep in mind that guns are literally talismans in a good portion of the world and if you actually aim they consider you to be committing murder, even if you were otherwise justified.

K9s that are just random dogs with zero training, "handlers" with zero training, and X-ray imagers/mag screeners with no training who are just staring at an empty screen or wave you through after the mag beeps are also the norm, even in a "modern" country such as Russia.

Or the Afghan rural police/highway patrol who tried to sell me his PM for $50. His service pistol.

[TGS]

Or the Afghan rural police/highway patrol who tried to sell me his PM for $50. His service pistol.

What do you mean "tried" and not "did"?

Did you already have one?

:p

[Duelist]

What do you mean "tried" and not "did"?

Did you already have one?

:p

No way to bring such a thing home, where I did in fact already have one. And I was carrying an M16 and an M9, so it would have been superfluous as a gun to have and ditch to the incoming unit when I left.

[Joe in PNG]

Saw a security guard in PNG carrying a S&W Model 59 with no mag in it.

[TCB]

I used to shoot with a squad (20-40 of them) of Philippinos in L.A. They kind of adopted me when they found out my wife worked at the same hospital they all did. The shooting culture is strong with them. As a nation they learned a lot from being absolutely brutalized by Japan during WWII and seems that they are good with being well armed to prevent it from ever happening again. My buddy Elias Frangoulis was down there for some sort of match not too long ago and the current president or governors son was at the match and invited a few of shooters to an official party and were treated very well. A nurse my wife worked with said his family (fairly connected) had a lot of guns on hand (including a SAW) and that it was fairly common for families to have weapons caches.

[SeriousStudent]

Spent a great deal of time in the PI from 83-89, most of it training and training their military. The kali classes were awesome! And I still have my PMC Jungle Fighter patch. :)

We would grade the hotels on the number of armed guards. "Hey, you don't want to stay there - it's a only a two-guard hotel." A five-guard hotel was a very respectable establishment.

We saw a lot of pistol-grip shotguns, and large stainless steel magnum revolvers.

[andre3k]

Saw a security guard in PNG carrying a S&W Model 59 with no mag in it.

Sounds like some of the security guards that work the Mexican cantinas in my area. I've personally seen them carry pellet guns in their duty holsters.