How many Filipinos own guns?
Tough question. It’s easier to attempt an estimate of how many guns there are in the Philippines, where “loose” or unregistered firearms have always been a concern, since World War II littered many battlefields with salvageable firearms. Today there are over 350,000 “loose firearms”, by most police estimates (including registered guns with long-expired firearm licenses), in addition to well over 800,000 licensed, privately-owned firearms.11 The Philippines has a growing population of over 86 million (2005 estimate). Legitimate gun dealers sell about 50,000 firearms annually12 including government contracts, but it’s anyone’s guess how many firearms of all sorts move through the black market every year.
