The death of a security guard at the hands of robbers at an Avon branch office in Talisay City should be an eye-opener for Cebu police officials.
Hoodlums reportedly used a stun gun in this caper.
The attempted robbery was foiled only because of the courage of security guard Ramil Bono, who was ill equipped to deal with the armed robbers.
The reports are not clear whether the perpetrators actually zapped the guard.
He managed to resist and tried to fight off the robbers. They overpowered him and used his own gun to finish him off before fleeing on foot.
Online, one can see advertisements for stun guns as self-defense weapons.
Tasers are one of three commonly used electroshock non-lethal weapons, the others being stun guns and electric baton sticks, employed by law enforcement agencies and the military to disable hostiles in armed or unarmed confrontations and to quell riots.
As seen in action movies and even in real life— among the most notorious cases being the 1991 Rodney King police beatdown that sparked race riots in the US—tasers/stun guns/electric baton sticks are also used as torture tools during interrogation.
Their commercial availability in the US and other countries was justified in part on the grounds that it can be used for self-defense by women against rapists and by homeowners against burglars.
Online sales of stun guns in the Philippines is a recent trend.
Are there government regulations for its sale and distribution?
A shabu dealer was recently found using motion sensors and security cameras to guard a drug den in Liloan town last month.With robbers using electric shock devices, the war against crime may be tougher than we thought.
Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama is bearing down on LBC outlets that are vulnerable to holdups by refusing to station security guards in their branches.
Companies who put more of a premium on cost-saving operations than the protection of their clients and staff, make the job harder.
With malfunctioning security cameras and no security guard to boot, what’s to stop robbers with stun guns from visiting an LBC outlet?
Even if they do pay taxes, companies like LBC should do their share in the war against crime by instituting adequate security measures.
They have the resources to do so, unlike private citizens.
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