The National Police yesterday egged on journalists who have threats on their lives to own guns for protection.

Chief Supt. Nicanor Bartolome, spokesman, said qualified members of the media would be given extensive training on safety, gun handling and shooting.

“If certain journalists wish to own guns, we will subject them to certain requirements such as threat assessment. We will also subject them to firearms proficiency trainings,” he told reporters.

“If we will be able to hear directly from them about the threats on their lives, I would suggest that we immediately inform the nearest police station and its chief so the members of the media and the PNP have real coordinated effort to prevent it from happening,” he said.

Bartolome said Crame would consult national and local media organizations to identify journalists considered high-risk targets owing to their treatment of controversial issues.

“The PNP is eyeing the possibility of conducting security training for journalists who are under threat. We will also conduct risk assessment for these threatened journalists and possibly provide protective security if necessary.”

The different regional offices, including Metro Manila, had been instructed to hold joint media-police seminars and dialogs to assess the security status of the local media. Romie A. Evangelista