Loaded gun under your pillow?

[HappyinPH 100]

Some time ago I saw on another PH forum that someone posted that they slept with a loaded gun under their pillow (!) Surely if you need to do that, you should find somewhere else to live.

Where we live, because of the location and the fact that our house is not huge and luxurious like those of some foreigners, I consider it highly unlikely that I would ever need a gun. More likely, one of the kids would find it and shoot another kid!! 

So I wondered what others on this forum think about this. Maybe there's a difference between Americans (who may have been in the military and know how to use a gun) and Brits/Europeans (where there is less "gun culture" than in the US).

[Chako 195]

13 minutes ago, HappyinPH said:

Some time ago I saw on another PH forum that someone posted that they slept with a loaded gun under their pillow (!) Surely if you need to do that, you should find somewhere else to live.

Where we live, because of the location and the fact that our house is not huge and luxurious like those of some foreigners, I consider it highly unlikely that I would ever need a gun. More likely, one of the kids would find it and shoot another kid!! 

So I wondered what others on this forum think about this. Maybe there's a difference between Americans (who may have been in the military and know how to use a gun) and Brits/Europeans (where there is less "gun culture" than in the US).

As  a kid growing up in the 60s in a violent criminal neighborhood my Moma slept with a 38 revolver under her pillow, we were too poor to move at the time, she pulled it on me many a times when I came home late. Most urban centers in the States now have out of control violence now  

Edited May 23 by Chako

[A_Simple_Man 6,847]

46 minutes ago, HappyinPH said:

someone posted that they slept with a loaded gun under their pillow

I can speak about my friend now, as he moved back to the USA and has since passed away.

"T" did a few years in the US military and he was from Arkansas where pistols are commonplace (as he described it to me).  When he lived in Cebu he had a hidden compartment built into the headboard of his bed.  That is where he kept his "not entirely legal" 38.  Legality aside, he got it from a PNP friend who told him the day may come when he needed it.

When "T" and I shared a house, there was a night when a couple of punk Filipinos were in our front yard firing off a pistol.  For what reason I don't know.  Perhaps trying to scare the foreigners or perhaps playing silly young men games (both of them were early 20s).  "T" and I went outside, unarmed to check this out.  More precisely, "T" went out to check it out and I followed. standing behind a concrete pillar, in case things did not go well.  As it turned out, "T" gave them boys a lecture they will not forget.  I'll never know if they understood the words but they understood the body language.  They put the pistol away and left.

Some time after that, "T" acquired a pistol.  He never needed to use it, but kept it handy.  For me, I never felt that I needed one, but then I would not have gone out of my way to confront those punks either.  So different strokes for different folks.

As a follow up, "T" was a truck driver in the USA and he still carried a pistol with him.  He actually did need it once.  He was the victim of an intended Hi Jack but one warning shot from the pistol sent the hijackers running.  These tools have their place.

[Paddy 1,639]

As a Brit with military experience…

Keeping a weapon ready for instant use should only be required in a high threat environment. 

Keeping a loaded pistol under one’s pillow is an unsafe practice (high threat environment notwithstanding). 

It is illegal, I believe, for a foreigner to possess a firearm in the Philippines. One could, of course, have one’s asawa deal with the legalities and then be prepared to handle the consequences if the weapon was ever used.

If I considered that I lived in a high threat environment, I would move (if I could). However, just because your neighbours may have firearms, legally or not (which several of mine probably do), does not make the environment high threat. Just don’t piss them off, or be around them when they’re drinking!

We did have such a neighbour who used to fire indiscriminately when drunk. Sadly, he was shot himself a couple of times and eventually died from his wounds. There was a person who couldn’t tell who he could piss off with impunity…Not greatly missed in the community I believe.

 

 

[+to_dave007 6,790]

Some anecdotes....

1. Against my advice, my Canadian friend ("N".. 70+ R.I.P.) shared his house with an attractive  27 year old "maid" after he split from his "wife" and took her to federal court.. once he learned she committed bigamy and robbed him blind when she "married" him. House was in the "wifes" name.. no matter that it was fraudulently obained..  One night.. at 3am..  he was visited by a SUV load of armed police.. accompanied by another SUV load of armed men who called themselves NPA.  When they caught him in the house with the "maid" (no matter that he was sexually impotent and with colostomy bag after surgery).. they told him to load whatever he wanted to keep into one of his 3 vehicles..  and drive away.. and not come back for anything else.  He complied. He was 72 at the time.  What choice did he have.. He died a broken pauper about 18 months later after a stroke.  A gun under his pillow might have ended his suffering much earlier.
2. Mr Wind..  a German in a very large house on the beach in San Remegio..  was visted by 4 armed and experienced men in the middle of the night.  My Wind and his wife were found  floating in the ocean the next day.  Didn't matter if he had gun or not..  he wasn't going to survive that night. This was within last 12 months.  Google will find it.  I have local German friends in that area and know much more about it..  but I won't add it here..  There was history between these men.
3. My Canadian friend S.. now 86..  has lived in an isolated house on an isolated beach 20 meters from the surf for 26 years..  other than his housekeeper..  hundreds of meters from any neighbour..  in a nipa and bamboo house that is never secured by more than a childs lock and chain.  And he never had a problem... ever.. until recently when two teens got into a case of the beer he stores outside under the steps.

I think the level of "trouble" you will have here is often somehow proportional to the size of the target you paint on your own back.

[Fresh 494]

The best way for foreigners to keep a loaded gun...is in the arms of the security men who guard their subdivision or condo.

[bert 158]

stay away from alkanol loaded pinoy  lesson number one

[+RogerDuMond 15,637]

31 minutes ago, Paddy said:

It is illegal, I believe, for a foreigner to possess a firearm in the Philippines. One could, of course, have one’s asawa deal with the legalities and then be prepared to handle the consequences if the weapon was ever used.

Quote

ARTICLE II

OWNERSHIP AND POSSESSION OF FIREARMS

SEC. 4. Standards and Requisites for Issuance of and Obtaining a License to Own and Possess Firearms. – In order to qualify and acquire a license to own and possess a firearm or firearms and ammunition, the applicant must be a Filipino citizen, at least twenty-one (21) years old and has gainful work, occupation or business or has filed an Income Tax Return (ITR) for the preceding year as proof of income, profession, business or occupation.

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2013/05/29/republic-act-no-10591/

There are basically two licenses, one to own and keep the gun in your home, and another to carry outside of your home.

It is not against the law for a foreigner to protect themselves inside their home with a legal firearm even though it is not licensed to them.

[M.C.A. 677]

8 hours ago, Fresh said:

The best way for foreigners to keep a loaded gun...is in the arms of the security men who guard their subdivision or condo.

When things go sour Fresh those armed Pnoys will hit the road and leave you hanging they won't die for the little pay they get.

[Fresh 494]

1 hour ago, M.C.A. said:

When things go sour Fresh those armed Pnoys will hit the road and leave you hanging they won't die for the little pay they get.

That's the fiction foreigners say when they can't afford security.

Back to reality, which any Filipino will tell you, guards protecting subdivisions, malls, armored cars, etc don't "hit the road" when faced with a threat, they gun the threats down.

 

[A_Simple_Man 6,847]

2 hours ago, Fresh said:

Back to reality, which any Filipino will tell you, guards protecting subdivisions, malls, armored cars, etc don't "hit the road" when faced with a threat, they gun the threats down.

That is wrong on so many levels, here is just one

Here is another

Here is another, reminds me of an old west shootout

https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1780114/cebu/local-news/security-guard-shot-dead-by-co-worker

 

Edited May 24 by A_Simple_Man

[Fresh 494]

6 hours ago, A_Simple_Man said:

That is wrong on so many levels

That's not even the same subject. What's next, are you going post some examples bad cops to 'prove' all police are bad?

[+RogerDuMond 15,637]

9 hours ago, Fresh said:

That's the fiction foreigners say when they can't afford security.

The best security in the Philippines is a large house dog.

[maximian 516]

1 hour ago, RogerDuMond said:

The best security in the Philippines is a large house dog.

Doesn’t have to be large. My Jack Russel has already bitten two family members ( good dog) They now refuse to come into the house and sit outside with two well behaved Rottweilers. 

[Headshot 29,812]

On 5/24/2022 at 10:21 AM, to_dave007 said:

the level of "trouble" you will have here [in the Philippines] is often somehow proportional to the size of the target you paint on your own back.

A truer statement was never written.

Whether to own a gun and keep it in the home is a personal question. Nobody can assess the amount of "threat" another person is aware of unless they are intimate with that person. However, people should understand that a gun is only one layer of security, if you want to be completely safe in your home (sometimes a nice home is all the target you need). Walls around the house, good locks, dogs, alarm systems and outdoor lighting can all deter intruders, but never rely on just one layer. A gun may be an option as an additional layer of security (not to deter but to stop an intrusion "dead" in its tracks). If nothing can deter an intruder, or if the threats comes from within the home (wife, relative or domestic helper), then none of these can help you. However, if the threat is coming from within the home, then even a gun won't help you, and it is time to either leave or change things drastically.

A foreigner cannot legally own a gun in the Philippines, but he can legally fire his Filipina wife's gun on their property in self-defense. If you do keep a gun...

1)  make sure it is kept secure enough that nobody else can access (you don't want a child to shoot somebody or your wife to shoot you), and

2)  make sure that it is accessible enough that you can get to it in an emergency (a gun does you no good if you can't access it in time to save yourself).