Comments From a Door to Door Gun Confiscation Survivor

By Dean Weingarten

Limmuel
Comments From a Door to Door Gun Confiscation Survivor
Gun Watch
Gun Watch

Arizona – -(Ammoland.com)- You meet some interesting people when you hand out cards announcing that you are a member of the new media.

My new friend, Limmuel, above, caught my attention when he cautioned me against believing that “It could never happen here.”

Limmuel was only a young boy when it happened to him and his family in the Philippines in 1972.  His father told him the details for years afterward.

Limmuel’s father was a security guard at a high school in the Philippines when Ferdinand Marcos issued this order pursuant to Proclamation No. 1081 dated September 21, 1972.

“NOW, THEREFORE, I, Ferdinand E. Marcos, Commander-in-Chief of all the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and pursuant to Proclamation No.1081 dated September 21, 1972, do hereby order that henceforth and until otherwise ordered by me or by my duly designated representative, no person shall keep, possess or carry outside of his residence any firearm unless such person is duly authorized to keep, possess or carry any such firearm and any person violating this order shall forthwith be arrested and taken into custody and held for the duration of the emergency unless ordered released by me or by my duly designated representative.”

As a security guard, Limmuel’s father received advance notice of the coming house to house search for weapons.  He carefully buried his personal weapons to prevent them from being confiscated, retaining only his officially issued firearm in the home.   The search was conducted, and no private arms were found.   I suspect that the guns that were buried were not on any “registration” list.

Limmuel says that the guns that were confiscated were never returned to their owners, even though the confiscation was supposed to be “temporary” at the time.   Limmuel clearly remembers living under martial law, with a 10 pm curfew for all activities.   He says that checkpoints were very common, that vehicles were often searched, but that bribery was also common and that a small bribe would relieve you of the inconvenience of the search.

No two countries are exactly alike, but the Philippines has a long history of association with the United States.  Limmuel believes that a current push for gun control in the Philippines results from an emulation of U.S. policies.

As a cautionary tale, after a number of years, Limmuel’s father tried to retrieve the firearms that he had buried, but could not remember their exact location.  They remain buried, a find for future treasure hunters or archaeologists.

I told Limmuel that if he did not wish to have his guns confiscated, that he could buy them privately in the United States, and then the government  would not know that he had them.

“I know“, he said. “I have“.  He also said that there are ongoing negotiations between the communist rebels and the government of the Philippines.  The government, he says, insists that the rebels disarm.  The rebels, he says, will never give up their guns.

The Philippines has become a world leader in the production of sophisticated guns in small, semi-clandestine workshops.

©2013 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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About Dean Weingarten;
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973.  He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.

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Peter Paul E. Abad

At least Limmuel’s dad got a notice. Nothing of a house to house confiscation happened unless you were identified to have a stash of fire arms, my dad to buried his guns under a concrete floor slab of our house. The 1081 proclamation did the right thing, guns should be licence to be able to carry it. Before Martial Law, guns are ordinary toys for us or Filipinos in the country side. You can do target shooting in your back yard as long as it is inside your property disregarding safety to neighbors, local police can’t do anything they just… Read more »

Tonto

The problem being…..when you start thinking of hiding your guns, it’s the time to bring them out and prepare to use them.

Paul

It is getting to the point that we have to do the same thing in this country, build our guns in small semi-clandestine workshops, in this way we will be able to still have them. In the next year figure the government will do just what happened in the Philippines under Marcos, the same thing can and will happen here.