After the massacre of children and teachers by a former police officer at a nursery in 2022, and then after a shooting by another 14-year-old boy at Bangkok’s most popular shopping mall in 2023, Anutin, then the interior minister, ordered similar measures.
The discount scheme was also suspended back then, but almost immediately reinstated. The carrying of firearms by anyone not on official duty was banned after another school shooting in February this year.
The problem is not just regulation. The sheer number of guns in circulation, endemic corruption, lax enforcement of laws in all walks of life, the glorification of guns and a decades-long military culture are all contributing factors.
In the most recent asset declarations by government ministers more than a dozen owned guns: the justice minister owns 10, the minister for the environment and natural resources said he had 12, and one female MP has declared ownership of 48 guns.
Boonwara Sumano also highlights the pervasive influence of the military in Thailand, even when it is not actually running the country, which it has done for most of its modern history.
“If you notice every Children’s Day in Thailand, instead of taking children to a museum or park, many families take their children to an army or air force base to see the weapons, take photos holding guns, this kind of thing.
“It’s in the culture. You see big men in the military looking so powerful, they kind of make you want to become one of them,” she told the BBC.
Thailand is an outlier in this region.
Compared to Thailand’s 10 million, Indonesia has only 82,000 civilian-owned guns, with a population four times larger. In Malaysia the number is 107,000, and deaths from gunshots are rare.
The Philippines is the only other country with a similar gun-culture and comparable levels of gun crime.
Gun enthusiasts in Thailand now worry that the government will react to public anxiety over the latest attacks by making even responsible gun ownership much harder.
Yod, a 53-year-old businessman, told the BBC he viewed his collection of more than 70 guns more as luxurious toys – he said he had never fired most of them.
“Most of the gun crimes in this country are carried out by illegal weapons. New measures to control legally owned guns are not the right solution. There are blank guns and spare parts which can be assembled as real guns being imported legally into the country. Why hasn’t that been chased up?”
Sathit, a shop-owner with more than 40 guns in his collection, cited the weakness of law enforcement in Thailand as his reason for arming himself.
“Look around this country nowadays. There are crimes every day. It is not safe. Drugs are rampant. People need to protect themselves because there are not enough police officers. People should have access to guns to survive, for their own safety.”
As he waited to be charged for carrying out a killing he had apparently not even thought about when he walked into the local administration office, Chalong Riewrang, a powerful local figure accustomed to getting his own way, ruminated to reporters on his unforeseen situation.
“I can’t believe I’m in this position, sitting here. Throughout my life, I have never had to come to a police station.”
At one time, according to the police, he had possessed permits for nine guns, but in recent years had reduced that to just one. One gun, it turned out, was enough to end the life of his friend, and turn his upside down.
