Formation 1987 Official language English | Location Philippines Website progun.ph | |
Motto Peaceful responsible owners of guns Type Shooting sports and gun advocacy | ||
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 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.
Contents
Political lobbying
From around 2009, PROGUN involved itself with political campaigns to protect firearms rights for Filipinos. Most notably, these included:
2010 Election Gun Ban Statistics Project
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 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.
Organizational structure
In line with Philippine law, PROGUN is governed by a board of 15 directors. After the resignation of Chairman Mike Melchor 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.
Relations with other organizations
At its inception, PROGUN was funded by the Association of Firearms & Ammunition Dealers of the Philippines, Inc. (AFAD). However, disagreements in approach to lobbying caused the two organizations to drift apart during the first decade of 2000. In 2010, AFAD backed the launch of a new firearms group, The A2S5 Coalition, which was formed to oppose the extension of the 2010 election gun ban.
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 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".