By Hannah Torregoza
Senators urged tighter safeguards on firearms access following the Aug. 18 shooting at Ateneo de Zamboanga University, where a Grade 9 student killed a fellow student before taking his own life with a 9mm pistol and a pistol caliber carbine.
Senator Loren Legarda said the string of school shootings in Cavite, Tacloban, Bacolod, and now Zamboanga highlights the urgent need for stronger gun control.
“We need to confront the access to firearms that makes such violence possible. Guns must not be easily accessible, especially to minors and unauthorized individuals,” she stressed.
Legarda underscored that stricter enforcement of gun laws is essential to prevent firearms from reaching schools and vulnerable hands.
She noted that ownership comes with the responsibility to ensure weapons are not accessible to children or unauthorized persons.
“If there are gaps in our laws, then we must close them. If the problem is enforcement, then authorities must enforce them strictly and without exception,” she said.
The senator also pointed to the shooter’s family background—his father is a Bureau of Customs official—as a reminder that accountability must extend to gun owners.
“No student should be able to walk into a school carrying a gun. Preventing this requires responsibility from gun owners, vigilance from authorities, and strict compliance with our laws,” she added.
Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero echoed the call, saying that despite the Senate’s heavy workload, lawmakers cannot set aside issues that directly affect the safety of young people.
