Handguns sold openly at malls

OF COURSE I mean replicas, but they look as real and deadly. I spotted these gun replicas, which are really lighters, sold by a Lighters Galore stall at SM Fairview (and I guess at other malls too). Actually, some weeks ago I advised the saleslady to warn her boss of the risky business of selling gun replicas, but obviously she was neither alarmed by nor interested in my advice because until now the replicas are still on the shelves. Apparently, both the stall operator and SM management are not aware that by permitting a lighters store to peddle handgun replicas, they are complicit in the perpetuation of crimes.

Not a few times have we read news reports on arrested holdup men who tried to pull off their heists using only gun replicas. A handgun replica does not kill, but it can scare, and a felon can rob his victims in taxis, jeepneys and buses, and in the dark corners of the metropolis, with one.

Thanks to gun replicas, crimes have been committed. The police should make haste to visit these Lighters Galore stalls in the malls and confiscate these handgun replicas before the next crime is accomplished.

—POMPEYO S. PEDROCHE, pspsedroche@

gmail.com