Easy access to family guns fuels Philippine school shootings

The Philippines has suffered three deadly school shootings since June.

In each case, at least one weapon belonged to a relative working in government or law enforcement, whether as an official service issue or a privately licensed firearm.

On Friday, a student at Banga National High School in South Cotabato province shot dead two classmates, wounded several others and then killed himself. He reportedly used the licensed firearm of his father, who works in the Education Department’s risk reduction unit.

Last month, a student at the privately run Ateneo de Zamboanga University’s junior high school live-streamed the attack, killing a fellow student before turning the gun on himself. The service-issued firearm recovered from the scene belonged to the student’s father, a customs official.