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Aidan Jones

The cremations of the victims of the Debsirin school shooting in the Thai province of Nonthaburi had barely begun when another body was added to the country’s rising toll from gun violence.
On Monday morning, a former MP for Nonthaburi fired four rounds at a local official inside a car – then calmly strode away, the pistol tucked back into his belt.
Police Colonel Thongchai Yenprasert was shot over an alleged money dispute by 71-year-old Chalong Riewrang, a three-time lawmaker with deep political influence, who then called a television host to confess his alleged crime.
Thongchai, 71, was the 12th victim of gun killings in under three weeks in Nonthaburi alone, a small province of a quarter of a million people just outside Bangkok.

On July 21, a young man was gunned down by a masked gunman on a motorbike in Pak Kret. A week later, a former bank manager killed two relatives and injured four others in a bullet-strewn dispute over land.
But most of the lives were taken by a 14-year-old student who allegedly shot his grandparents before going on a killing spree at Debsirin school on Friday morning. By the next day, the death toll was nine and included the shooter, who apparently took his own life.
Over 20 people were shot dead nationwide in that period, according to an estimate from local media reports. But that is not a definitive tally in a country where conflict, gang disputes, robberies, debts, broken hearts and mental health breakdowns are often resolved in a hail of bullets.
No control
It is a gun violence problem everyone knows exists, but no one seems able to control.
“I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve repeated this, but let me say it again: no one has the right to carry a firearm around in public, especially not in public places,” Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on Monday.
He vowed to drive through new law to get on top of the illegal guns in circulation and make sure that only active personnel were allowed to carry weapons in public. There would be searches, roadblocks and harsh punishments for anyone who breached the law, he added.
“The last public-carry permit was issued three years ago. These carry permits are valid for only one year. Therefore, [right now] no one can carry a gun unless they are an official actively on duty.”
On Tuesday, Anutin suspended the issuance ⁠of permits to buy firearms and said existing licences would be reviewed, Reuters reported.
In the fallout from the school killings, gun control arguments have split along predictable lines: those calling for further tightening of laws and those who say it is not legal guns to blame but the individual who pulls the trigger.


It is already a complex process to obtain a gun legally in Thailand, according to Pat Hakimi, vice-president of the Firearms Traders Association of Thailand.
“Before you can buy a gun from a shop, there has to be a background check … the government does the checking. There’s fingerprinting, it gets sent to the district officer for review, and then another signature for approval,” he said.
“My family has been selling guns for 90 years, since my grandmother’s time. As far as I know, not a single one of our guns has ever been used to commit a crime.”
Instead, he said the overwhelming majority of gun crimes are committed with unlicensed, black market weapons – over one million of which may be in circulation.
Those include blank guns illegally altered to fire real bullets or so-called welfare weapons – bought via a cut-price quota scheme allowing civil servants to buy subsidised guns – that slip onto the black market. “Prevention starts by controlling guns in the wrong hands – they’re sold openly all over online marketplaces,” Pat said.
Sporadic Thai police raids on criminal gangs often uncover alarming evidence of the firepower on the streets: caches of military-grade weapons including automatic rifles and machine guns.
‘Flawed society’
Thailand is often cited as having the highest rate of gun ownership in Southeast Asia with the last data point, compiled in 2017 by the Small Arms Survey, reporting over 10.3 million firearms were in civilian hands, or around 15 guns per 100 people.
Experts say that abundance is partly to do with Thailand’s militarised culture as well as its location as a smuggling route between two active war zones: in the south, where insurgents battle authorities, and in civil war-torn Myanmar.
The school shooting has highlighted the complexity of gun control, as the weapon used was licensed to the shooter’s grandfather.
Kisanaphong Poothakool, a police lieutenant-colonel and leading criminologist, said firearms laws should be updated to require “periodic renewal and reassessment” for licensed gun holders.
He also called for tougher illegal firearm control, better databases and tracing for risk assessment and mandatory safe-storage requirements “especially in homes where children or other vulnerable persons are present”.
“Every society has conflict. The issue is why a firearm is available at the moment the conflict escalates,” he said. “If we can reduce the intersection between conflict, anger and access to firearms, we can reduce the number of disputes that end in death.”

In the absence of comprehensive data or government findings, those who regularly see the outcomes of violence are left to make their own diagnosis of the ills plaguing Thailand.
Ekkapop Luangprasert, founder of the Sai Mai Tong Rod, a leading volunteer group that members of the public often contact before the police, receives complaints of violence, including shootings, “almost daily”.
“I think what we’re seeing overall stems from a flawed belief embedded in Thai society – a culture that glorifies violence,” he said. “Whenever something goes wrong, Thai society has taught us that the answer is punishment.”
Old-school parenting and wider power values leave children ill-equipped to deal with anger and frustration, he said. “By the time they grow up and enter society, they end up defaulting to violence as the way to solve problems.”
“We need to take a hard look at what’s actually happening in Thai society today. Thai society is built on authoritarianism: you must listen to your teachers, you must listen to your elders. That era is over now. It doesn’t work any more in this day and age.”


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A forensic police officer marks a bullet casing as evidence at the site of a shooting at the Nonthaburi Provincial Administrative Organisation office on Monday. Photo: Reuters

Former lawmaker Chalong Riewrang is questioned by police officers on Monday. Photo: Reuters

The mother of the 14-year-old boy who took his own life after killing his grandparents and several others at Debsirin school looks at his portrait on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

Chalong Riewrang (centre) is escorted by police past members of the media in Nonthaburi on Monday. Photo: TPBS/AP

A teacher uses a metal detector to screen for weapons as students enter a school in Bangkok on Monday, following a deadly shooting at Debsirin school in Nonthaburi province. Photo: Reuters

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Family members of a teacher who was killed in a school shooting are led to an ambulance in Bang Kruai district, Thailand’s Nonthaburi province, on Friday. Photo: TNS

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul (centre) arrives at Debsirin Nonthaburi School on Friday. Photo: Xinhua

A student reacts after being evacuated from the school on Friday. Photo: Reuters

A gun magazine and bullets in a bag, following a shooting incident at the school. Photo: Pohg Teck Tung Foundation via Reuters

Officials carry a computer out of the house where a teenage suspect is suspected of killing his grandparents before carrying out a school shooting in Thailand’s Nonthaburi province on Friday. Photo: AFP

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Thana Kerdthong is brought in for investigation at the Huayyai police station in Chonburi province on Friday. Photo: Royal Thai Police/EPA

Thongchai Srinil  arrives at the Huayyai police station in Chonburi province for questioning on Friday. Photo: Royal Thai Police/EPA

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The recent school shooting and killing of an official have raised the tally to 12 in three weeks in the tiny province of Nonthaburi alone


The recent school shooting and killing of an official have raised the tally to 12 in three weeks in the tiny province of Nonthaburi alone.


Crime

Bangkok

Anutin Charnvirakul

Thai government

Thailand’s rising body count reveals a nation unable to curb gun crime

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The recent school shooting and killing of an official have raised the tally to 12 in three weeks in the tiny province of Nonthaburi alone

The recent school shooting and killing of an official have raised the tally to 12 in three weeks in the tiny province of Nonthaburi alone