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Home » Reader question » Are firearms easily available in Thailand?
Are firearms easily available in Thailand?
Dear readers,
Some time ago I went with my girlfriend to relatives in Saraburi. It was a nice get-together and after that time a family member took us back to the bus station with his car. Once in the car, he opened the glove box and took out a gun to display. I was shocked and that to the great hilarity of him and my girlfriend.
Later on the bus ride back I asked her for an explanation and let her know that I didn't think this was normal. According to her, nothing was wrong and many Thais have a gun in their car. When asked why, I didn't really get an answer. And when asked if he had a permit for the weapon, she replied: 'I don't know'.
My questions to the readers are: Is this normal? Do many Thai have guns and are they so easily available in Thailand?
Regards,
Roland
This is how you get a legal permit to own a weapon: go to the town hall for an application.
https://www.thephuketnews.com/packing-heat-how-to-get-a-gun-in-phuket-55469.php#f7RHXju3dj0FZ9Il.97
https://www.loc.gov/law/foreign-news/article/thailand-amendments-to-firearms-law/
Logically, since 2017, only people with Thai nationality are allowed to own a gun…
There seem to be many places where you can illegally buy a firearm. Inquire at the Royal Thai Police..
When I came to live in Thailand in 1999, in a cottage somewhere in the wilderness, a cousin of my then wife, a senior police officer, offered to buy me a gun. Only 40.000 baht. I declined. We had 5 dogs, much better. Guns cause more accidents than they protect. But a gun is a symbol of masculinity.
Yep.
Dumb manhood.
Fire draws fire, the attacker will be faster.
Owning a firearm is a crime.
Even having a bulletproof vest is not allowed!
Whether you would actually shoot as a defense is something that could well be thought about!
It is unclear to me what you base this on and whether this even applies to Thailand. If you take the trouble to open and read the 2nd link in the message above you from Tino Kruis, you will see that gun permits can simply be applied for and obtained by Thai. A little further on it is also described what that is for and we are clearly talking about private persons and non-job related weapons such as police and army officials. I find it extremely presumptuous to state a firm opinion without any source and argumentation that is also factually incorrect.
A Thai acquaintance of mine owns a rubber plantation near Ubon Ratchathani. The work is done by his son and a hired worker. On a visit I saw 2 shotguns in the hut, which was intended as a sleeping area. Yes, my acquaintance said, they are here in the middle of nowhere, the guns are used for hunting but also serve for protection because the police are nowhere to be seen in the event of trouble. In fact, guns are for sale everywhere, without registration or a license application. Also applies to air guns, which are openly offered for sale and seem to be quite easy to convert. You are not allowed to carry a gun with you in Thailand without a permit. But I wouldn't bother motorists who have one in the glove box. It is also sometimes checked and to prevent detection there are installation stations that fix a secret hiding place in the car for you. In response to this, the police also have X-ray equipment, but that is few and far between and the chance of detection is therefore not very great.
What I once learned from an article is that Thai are even worse than USA !!
There are even more guns than in USA !! I was flabbergasted
If you have a permit, you are even allowed to own many weapons, as long as you have the permit.
So not even registered per weapon.
Search the internet for 'weapons in Thailand' and you will see:
Deaths per 100.000 inhabitants Philippines 9,2 USA 4,5 and Thailand 3,7. All too many of course, and these figures do not include deaths due to war violence or police actions against criminals.
If you want to know how many guns are in circulation among civilians, look here: Wikipedia, gun ownership by country; https://tinyurl.com/yxbobt5y There is a striking difference between Belgians and Dutch…….
Unlicensed guns can be found all over the world; that is not typical Thai.
Watch the Thai news for a few days and then you'll know what's going on. Every oil globe with a short fuse has a weapon. Because from his (usually) upbringing, he must always and immediately get his way.
That was it for me.
Thailand has one of the highest gun homicides per capita in the world. The answer therefore appears to be “yes”. Licenses are fairly easy to obtain for Thais and there is a huge black market in firearms. For example, firearms often disappear from police stations and even from army camps.
My mother-in-law and all the brothers-in-law have guns.
All have home businesses. Even a number of the permanent employees who live on the family land also have business at home. It regularly happens that people are illegally sawing down the family teak trees or preying on the durian and other reasonably expensive fruit.
Have experienced here that two of the family elephants were shot. It's been about 5 years now.
Nothing actually ever happens here in the village, but if I am 500 meters or more from the village, people are really in no man's land and there are areas, especially where there is a lot of wood, it is better not to come at night.
If you live in such an outlying area, you really have to.