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Opinion

Road rage caught on video

THAT DOES IT - Korina Sanchez - The Freeman

A video uploaded on the internet has gone viral. It shows two motorists - a private vehicle owner and a taxi driver - in a heated argument along EDSA, with the former pulling out a gun from his bag and aiming it at the taxi driver. The taxi driver seemed to be armed with a knife. The video was taken by a passenger of a public bus at it stopped to watch the confrontation. It is not known who drew their respective weapons first. I can say that the taxi driver is lucky that he was not shot. As the private vehicle sped away, which happens to be a Mercedes SUV, the taxi gave chase until he succeeded in cutting off the SUV. Another argument ensued but the video ends here.

The taxi driver has surrendered to authorities to give his side. According to him, the SUV first cut him off, then its driver alighted and punched him. That was not seen on the video. He intentionally gave chase to stop the driver from getting away, and to attract authorities. It is safe to assume that there were none who arrived. The SUV has been traced to a private company, who has refused to issue a statement nor name the driver of its SUV. Authorities are still looking for him.

We don't exactly know who started the fight, or whether the drawing of the gun and threatening the taxi driver was justified or not. But from what I have been told, the gun-toting individual may lose his firearm license, if he has one. I don't think road rage is a justification to pull out a gun. Still, it has to be determined if he pulled out his gun because the other driver already had a knife.

What is certain is that there are many armed individuals on the streets, and the chances of you running into one of them is highly probable. The driver of the SUV already brought out his bag that contained his gun, without knowing about the knife. He was ready to use it. I really wonder if he was unarmed, would he have even alighted from his vehicle, or even stopped to confront the taxi driver. Guns just give that temporary courage, and the arrogance to do anything, especially to those naturally abusive and cowards.

Obviously, this individual does not deserve a gun license, if he so readily wields it on the road. The fact that he succumbs to road rage is enough reason to disarm him. Even the taxi driver must face sanctions because he himself was armed. We cannot have these kind of people on the streets, which are dangerous enough as it is.

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