Self-defense is a basic instinct.

Thwarting threat to one’s existence is a natural reflex. 

Even the lowest life form knows this.

When our job is to go after crooks and thieves in government, you put yourself automatically in the line of fire.

And when we say “fire,” we mean literally as in guns being fired at you or your family to send a chilling message for you to stop or silence you altogether.   

Quite undeniably, public office, particularly those involving gathering evidence against grafters, is a highl-risk job. Presidential Political Adviser Ronald Llamas would tell you that the job is a thankless one fraught with  much danger, enough for him to acquire two assault rifles and three handguns just in case some people might want to do him harm.

When Llamas discovered early this year that suspicious-looking persons were casing his residence, he requested the National Police for security. While his request was still being processed, he decided that he would rather not be a sitting duck in a turkey shoot.

And so when he left for a conference of the United Nations High Commission on Refugees in Geneva, Switzerland early this month, he gave explicit instructions to his security aide and driver to unload his duly-licensed AK-47 assault rifle he had brought with him on the way to the airport and bring it back to his residence.

Instead, the two stupid staffers from the Office of the Political Adviser went on an apparent joyride and bumped another vehicle along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City in the wee hours of the morning.

That immediately created a furor, with some asking why Llamas had a cache of high-powered firearms in his vehicle (in fact, there was only one, the AK-47), and others demanding that he be criminally charged for possessing a powerful weapon that should be used only by the military and the police.

As the PNP later explained, anyone can buy an AK-47 or M-16 and be issued a license and a corresponding permit to carry, but only under certain conditions. In Llamas’ case, considering that he held a very sensitive position that entailed investigating allegations of corruption under the previous administration, he was issued a permit to carry for his firearms.

Thus, Llamas did not violate any law for possessing the weapon.

To those asking for Llamas’ head, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile had this to say: There’s a big difference between wang-wang and bang-bang’.Wang-wang has to do with abuse of the power and privileges of high public office, but bang-bang  pertains to the right of the individual to protect himself from harm.

Indeed, the US Constitution itself protects the right of Americans to bear arms. 

If Secretary Llamas has received death threats as result of doing his job, then he should be allowed to carry a firearm for self-defense. Or else he should be given a security detail by the PNP commensurate to the threat to his life.

Sen. Koko Pimentel is right: Llamas has no criminal liability because he was out of the country at the time the duly licensed firearm was discovered in his official vehicle. His aides have.

No less than President Aquino himself has confirmed that as political adviser, Llamas handles sensitive issues and is among those involved in the build-up of cases against the previous administration.

Thus, since Llamas has been receiving numerous death threats in the past several months, then he should be allowed to defend himself from any threat to his person.