Thai PM suspends permits to buy guns after school shooting. But will this work?

BANGKOK - Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has suspended permits for firearm purchases and ordered that work on a new gun control law with stronger controls and harsher penalties be expedited following last week’s school shooting. But experts say such stopgap measures are not enough to tackle the problem of weapon misuse given the easy accessibility of guns in the country.

A teenage student killed six people following a rampage at his school outside Bangkok on Aug 7, after fatally shooting his grandparents in their home, police said. He then turned the gun on himself after the attack that left 23 injured and marked the South-east Asian nation’s worst mass killing in nearly four years.

Experts told The Straits Times that while Thailand has existing gun-control laws, the bigger challenge is controlling access to the large stock of firearms already in civilian hands – including legally owned guns.

According to police, the 14-year-old shooter used a gun that belonged to his grandfather, underscoring the challenge of keeping firearms away from those who are not authorised to use them.

Trynh Phoraksa, a criminologist and lecturer at Mahidol University, said: “We already have a strict law about guns. It’s not about the law. It’s about the children or someone who wants to commit a crime being able to find a gun easily.”

“When you want to find a gun, unlicensed or second-hand gun, you can go through the internet to get a gun at a very cheap price, from 5,000 baht (S$194),” he added.

ST found private sellers on X offering firearms and ammunition, illustrating the difficulty of policing an illicit online market.

While brick-and-mortar gun shops operate legally in Bangkok’s Chinatown, the unmonitored digital space provides a far cheaper, unregulated alternative.

The Aug 7 incident is the latest in a succession of high-profile shootings in recent years in Thailand, which has by far the largest number of guns in civilian possession in South-east Asia, according to 2017 data from the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey.

Thai civilians held an estimated 10.3 million firearms – equating to roughly 15 weapons for every 100 residents in a population of around 71 million. Of these, only about 6.2 million are legally registered, leaving an estimated 4.1 million illicit weapons in circulation across the country.

“This (unregistered) number is very high and the government cannot do anything about it,” said Trynh, who previously served as a police officer for seven years.

Rather than relying on short-term fixes, he and other experts called for structural reforms to manage the massive pool of firearms already in civilian hands. Their recommendations include enacting mandatory safe-storage rules and requiring regular renewal of gun licences.

This pervasive ease of access is increasingly mirrored in the digital landscape.

Forensic analysis of the recent shooting suspect’s computer confirmed he heavily consumed violent online content, which investigators say fed a quiet obsession with weaponry. “According to witness interviews, the perpetrator had begun showing interest in studying the use of firearms for some time, (for) about one to two years,” said Police Major-General Atthapol Anusit, deputy commissioner of Provincial Police Region 1, noting the teen used social media to learn how to operate a weapon.

This hidden digital life stood in stark contrast to his normal behaviour at home, masking early warning signs that included a knife later recovered from his bag and a BB air gun confiscated by a teacher the previous year.

Gun laws and enforcement gaps

Under existing Thai law, any citizen aged 20 or older can legally purchase and own a firearm, while carrying an unlicensed weapon carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a 20,000 baht fine.

While the recent tragedy has prompted the government to tighten its gun control framework, experts argue that additional regulations may look good only on paper.

The Thai government has said it plans to modernise the firearms licensing system, including an electronic system linking licensing and sales data with other agencies, while strengthening dealer controls and penalties. A new Bill is expected within 60 days.

Experts, however, say the effectiveness of such measures will depend less on new rules than on how closely authorities track and control firearms after they enter civilian hands.

“The policy debate should go beyond licensing and carrying restrictions,” said Trynh.

Systematic enforcement and practical implementation matter far more than new legislation, he stressed.

“Thailand needs to address the entire life cycle of a firearm – acquisition, registration, safe storage, access by family members, transfer, inheritance and disposal.”

In the recent school attack, the gun used by the shooter was reportedly the grandfather’s legally-owned firearm.

To prevent legal weapons from falling into dangerous hands, some experts are calling for a complete overhaul of Thailand’s lifetime ownership policy.

“Firearm licences should not remain valid for life,” said crimonologist Piyaporn Tunneekul, who lectures at Nakhon Pathom Rajabhat University. She recommends introducing mandatory renewals every three to five years, tied directly to updated mental health screenings and physical storage inspections.

Krisanaphong Poothakool, a criminologist and member of the National Police Policy Subcommittee, agreed, urging lawmakers to mandate strict weapon safe-storage requirements and introduce legal accountability for adults whose negligence allows minors to access firearms.

Beyond storage, he noted that the state cannot effectively police its gun problem because it relies on outdated public data.

“Thailand needs a transparent, regularly updated national firearms picture,” Krisanaphong said, noting that widely cited statistics are nearly a decade old. “We should know not only how many registered guns exist, but how many weapons are lost, stolen, or involved in crimes.”

Early intervention over disciplinary punishment

While the policy debate intensifies, criminologists maintain that legislation alone cannot address the psychological triggers driving juvenile violence.

“It’s not about the weapon; the weapon is just a part of the violence,” said Trynh, emphasizing that the state routinely fails to detect early-stage mental health crises in youth. “When a teenager wants to fight, they can punch each other. But when they have guns, things become lethal.”

To bridge this gap between detection and intervention, Krisanaphong proposed establishing dedicated Behavioral Threat Assessment teams within schools to track red flags before they turn catastrophic.

“If a student repeatedly talks about killing people, researches previous school shooters, or attempts to obtain weapons, these behaviours should trigger assessment rather than simple disciplinary punishment,” he explained.

In immediate response to the tragedy, an inter-ministerial government task force announced plans to implement a standardised safety protocol for all schools by early November. The proposed “Student and School Safety Act” aims to introduce zero-tolerance anti-bullying policies, weapons detection systems, and post-traumatic stress screening.

Yet, critics remain sceptical of the sudden flurry of policy announcements, noting that past mass casualties in Thailand have followed an identical cycle of public outrage and short-lived executive promises.

“School safety must survive changes of ministers and governments,” said Krisanaphong, underlining the need for a permanent public-safety architecture rather than fleeting, reactive directives.

“The ultimate objective must be to stop the individual from reaching the school with a gun in the first place.”

For the community left behind, the policy debates offer cold comfort.

A 14-year-old friend of the shooter, who asked to be identified only as Boat, expressed disbelief over the tragedy, recalling someone who showed no outward signs of violence.

“We often talked about travelling together when we got older,” he told ST. “Those plans are gone now because our group will never be complete again.”