 | |
| Abbreviation | PROGUN |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1987 |
| Type | Shooting sports and gun advocacy |
| Website | progun |
PROGUN is a firearms advocacy group based in the Philippines. The organization's name stands for "Peaceful Responsible Owners of Guns". It was founded in 1987 [1] to make it easier for Filipino citizens to own and carry firearms. Although it started off as a non-political group, it became heavily involved in political lobbying and advocacy after a long period of inactivity during the early 2000s.
From around 2009, PROGUN involved itself with political campaigns to protect firearms rights for Filipinos. Most notably, these included:
As part of its efforts to block the extended gun ban, PROGUN volunteers started a Gun Ban Statistics Project to record violent crimes during the 2010 Philippine Election gun ban. The projects goal was to challenge the official PNP's claims [5] that the ban put in place during the 2010 elections was successful and therefore should be extended permanently.
As of 9 June 2010, the project recorded 429 incidents in which there were 359 injuries and 566 fatalities. [6]
In line with Philippine law, PROGUN is governed by a board of 15 directors. After the resignation of Chairman Mike Melchor [7] in June 2010, leadership was taken up by President, Atty. JJ D. Mendoza, and Secretary-General, Atty. Ticky Tabujara.
The organization's membership is made up of 15,000 card-carrying members but it also claims to enjoy the support of 1.2 million 'sympathetic' licensed gun owners throughout the Philippines. [8]
At its inception, PROGUN was funded by the Association of Firearms & Ammunition Dealers of the Philippines, Inc. (AFAD). [9] However, disagreements in approach to lobbying caused the two organizations to drift apart during the 2000s. In 2010, AFAD backed the launch [10] of a new firearms group, The A2S5 Coalition, which was formed to oppose the extension of the 2010 election gun ban. [4]
During the Philippine National Police Gun Summit in June 2010, a previously unknown organization called "Total Pro-Gun Confederation" was selected to speak on behalf of the Philippine Firearms community. Its designated representative, Mr. Christopher Punla, gave a controversial speech [11] which appeared to mock the firearms community. PROGUN later issued a statement denying any connection with the "Total Pro-Gun Confederation", saying that it used the 'PROGUN' registered trademark "without license or authority". [12]
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