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Philippine Gun Makers Take Aim from the Backyard to the Production Line

Reuters

29 July 2012

By Manuel Mogato

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A small army of 400 workers assembles revolvers and pistols at the Mandaue factory, which exports guns to the United States, Australia, Italy and Thailand.

Factory owner Romulo de Leon III, a second-generation gun dealer, quickly recognized the unusual skills developed by the illegal, backyard gunsmiths when he decided to switch from selling imported weapons to making his own.

His partly automated factory now produces about 20,000 guns a year, with up to 85 percent of them sold abroad, making him the second largest gun manufacturer in the Philippines.

With cheap labor and Filipino ingenuity, de Leon wants to expand into new markets in Eastern Europe and South America.

With more foreign markets in their gunsights, legal manufacturers hope President Benigno Aquino, a gun enthusiast who shoots competitively, will help liberalize gun laws.

ID: N709

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