Mass shootings are uncommon in Thailand, however in a rustic with hundreds of thousands of firearms, the authorities have lengthy apprehensive concerning the potential for extra gun violence.
There have been greater than 10.3 million privately owned firearms in Thailand in 2017, according to a survey by gunpolicy.org, a nonprofit group primarily based on the College of Sydney. Solely about six million of these have been registered.
The speed of personal firearm possession in Thailand that 12 months labored out to about 15 weapons for each 100 personal residents, the group mentioned. That was far fewer than america’ fee of 120 weapons per 100 individuals in the identical 12 months.
However Thailand, a majority Buddhist nation of about 69 million, has a few of Asia’s highest charges of gun possession and gun murder. It’s also a key underground marketplace for firearms in Southeast Asia, and consultants say that many unregistered weapons have been introduced in from neighboring international locations.
“Thailand is seen because the area’s principal arms black market, adopted by Cambodia and Vietnam,” in accordance with gunpolicy.org.
Gun legal guidelines are comparatively strict, with possession of an unlawful firearm carrying a jail sentence of as much as 10 years and a fantastic of 20,000 baht (about $535). To acquire a gun license, Thais should bear a background examine that considers earnings and prison historical past, and supply a motive for possession — for instance, searching, sport taking pictures or self-defense.
However consultants say that the Thai authorities don’t have any information of the huge numbers of weapons within the nation’s southernmost provinces bordering Malaysia, the place an ethnic Malay Muslim insurgency has been battling safety forces for years. Assaults there have come within the type of drive-by shootings; ambushes of safety checkpoints; and bombs focusing on navy outposts, procuring malls, lodges and different crowded areas.
In 2019, a gunman killed at least 15 people at a safety checkpoint within the southern province of Yala, the worst outbreak of violence in that area in years.
