Airsoft gun exemption from Comelec ban sought

AN AIRSOFT gun aficionado has asked the Supreme Court to quash a Commission on Elections (Comelec) resolution that included the replica firearm in the five-month gun ban.

In a 13-page petition, Reynante B. Orceo, who is also a lawyer, said the poll body effectively criminalized the sport when it included airsoft gun in Resolution 8714 which set the gun ban period.

"The Comelec, in issuing the subject resolution has made a new law on firearm or have amended the law on firearm -- an act beyond its power and authority," he said.

Republic Act 7166 or the Synchronized National and Local Elections Law prohibits any person from carrying or transporting firearms or other deadly weapons in public places.

In the gun ban resolution, Comelec defined the airsoft gun and its replica as a firearm "in whatever form that can cause an ordinary person to believe that they are real."

But Mr. Orceo said: "There is no law at present that covers airsoft guns. Though several bills are now pending in the 14th Congress that defines and governs the use of airsoft guns but nothing in these pending bills classified airsoft guns and their replica/imitation to mean as firearm."

Mr. Orceo has been playing airsoft gun sport since 2000. He formed the group Easternbloc Airsoft Philippines in 2008, an alliance of airsoft gun enthusiasts composed of professionals, businessmen, students and government workers.

The gun ban period is on Jan. 10 to June 9.