Now where did I put that submachine gun?

 I usually stay out of arguments about gun control, because they seem to be more about parroting cliches than actually stopping gun deaths.

The dirt little secrest is that most homicide deaths from guns are drug and gang related and affect black males the most, which is why it is taboo to discuss. These homicides are done by small guns, not the rifles they want to ban. However, the majority of gun deaths are actually suicide deaths by guns tend to be white males, related to depression and/or substance abuse, and this is rarely discussed either.

My grandfather was a cop, and he had a friend whose child accidentally killed himself playing with a service revolver, so my grandfather would no have guns in his house, and my father never learned to shoot a gun, and we had no guns in our house.

I had to learn to shoot when I joined the National Guard: But only rifles; when I was told I could as an officer carry a handgun, I took a waiver not to do this, knowing that there was no way I would ever shoot anyone, even in a war.

In other words, I am ambivalent about guns: I am pro gun control but until the discussion in the US is more nuanced and honest one doubts either side will be willing to make a compromise.

Fast forward to retiring to the Philippines.

My husband always had a handgun for protection, especially as drugs started infiltrating our placid rural area: doctors were a target because narcotics and money, and as a veteran he knew how to use a gun.

But here in the Philippines, they are stricter about guns.

The first president Marcos confiscated all the guns, which is why there are so many security guards at stores and malls.

but for protection in the home, a lot of folks just hid them, including my husband who kept his handgun in a safe, just in case.

But what astonished me was when he opened the safe and pulled out a World War II submachine gun to clean and check it. He was a WWII vet, at least during the end of the war, when he essentially was doing patrols in this rural area against Japanese stragglers who would kill for food or revenge.

However, when he had his second stroke, he gave away his guns, meaning that now we only have dogs and a machete for protection.

George, the killer labrador is waiting to bite you

At least four neighbors were killed by home invasion robberies since I moved here, so the threat was real.

Thanks to Duterte's war on drugs, we now feel a bit safer, which is why he was so popular. And one does hope that the new president Marcos will continue the fight so we are not taken over by drug cartels or the Chinese mafia.

So I won't need a gun... unless China decides that hey, Luzon used to be owned by China so why don't we take it over after we conquer Taiwan? 

In that case, a small submachine gun would come in handy.

Sorry.. I am being paranoid again (or am I?)