Restrictive Thailand Gun Laws Useless at Preventing Massacre

U.S.A. – -(Ammoland.com)- “A former policeman killed 34 people, including 23 children, during a knife and gun rampage at a daycare center in northeast Thailand on Thursday, police said, before later shooting dead his wife and child at home and turning his weapon on himself,” Reuters reports. “Police said the attacker’s weapon was a 9 mm pistol, and it had been obtained legally.”

What does that mean, in Thailand, to obtain a weapon legally?

“Gun laws are strict in Thailand, where possession of an illegal firearm carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years,” the report notes.

How strict?

“The regulation of guns in Thailand is categorized as restrictive,” GunPolicy.org, a project of the Sydney School of Public Health advises. “In Thailand, the right to private gun ownership is not guaranteed by law.”

Handgun, rifle, and shotgun purchasers have to overcome several prior restraints, including proving they have a “genuine reason” for the license needed to obtain a firearm and its ammunition (one license per gun). They must pass a “universal background check” that includes “income” among its. And there are “red flag” disqualifiers like “domestic violence …

“In Thailand, the law requires that a record of the acquisition, possession, and transfer of each privately held firearm be retained in an official register,” GunPolicy.org continues. Thailand also imposes storage laws and transit laws. Open carry is banned, and if a citizen wants to carry concealed, they must “apply for permission to carry a firearm … to the officials who are competent to issue such license.”

It sounds like everything Brady United, Everytown/Moms, and Giffords and the Democrats are demanding here, doesn’t it? “Commonsense gun safety”…?

So naturally, the media  says Thailand is “awash with easily obtainable firearms, featuring one of the highest gun homicide rates in Asia.” And to no one’s surprise, the violence is being committed by those who ignore all those “restrictive” laws. GunPolicy.org estimates there are over four million “illegal” guns in Thailand but admits it really doesn’t know for sure. Plus there’s a Malay-Muslim insurgency with armed rebels, “as well as the mafia syndicates across the country.”

And then there’s the proliferation “along the Thai-Myanmar and Thai-Cambodian border,” as well as the claim by “experts” that “military, police and paramilitary officials not only have easy access to such weapons but have also been known to sell these to non-state officials.”

In other words, “gun control” doesn’t and can’t work because the bad guys, especially the ones in government, will always create whatever workarounds they want. It’s no shock that this killer was a former policeman. The killer in the 2020 mall rampage was a soldier.

So look for demands for even more civilian disarmament. And don’t be surprised when another atrocity happens.

Translation accompanying the above photo:

The Prime Minister ordered the commander. Police Urgent flight. Nong Bua Lamphu. Rushing to chase the ex-policeman, the gunman in the child development center. 31 deaths in Nong Bua Lam Phu.
From the case of the criminal who went into the shooting in the district office. Many people died in Naklang district, both children and adults, and ran away.

Latest progress. 6 October 2565 AD. T. Teacher. Damrongsak Kittipraphat commander. Police Quick flight to the province. Nong Bua Lamphu with the police. T. Teacher. Surachet defeated the deputy commander. Police General T. T. Samran Nuanma, assistant commander. Police to keep track of the situation

Commander. Police Reveal that my condolences to the families of all the lost ones. All of these have been ordered to the General. T. T. Yong Vetho Sat. Commander. p.o. 4 and all units rushed to chase the culprits as soon as possible, they would control their own command.

The culprit was originally suspected to be Sor. T. Teacher. Words of wisdom (police) Non-governmental) has caused firearms to shoot people and children at the children center in the district. Naklang, province. Nong Bua Lamphu has caused a lot of deaths. Initially, there are about 31 deaths. Many are under treatment.

For the perpetrators on the run. Police officers from all departments have already taken preliminary control of the incident and are in the process of pursuing the perpetrators to legal prosecution.

S. T. Teacher. Panya used to serve at the Sopho. Nawang province. Nong Bua Bam Phu. There is an incident involving drugs. Arrested with meth materials and police. Provincial Nong Bua Lamphu has been ordered to resign from the government. I will inform you about the progress.

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About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.