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Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul announced the immediate suspension of all new permits to buy or own firearms while directing a review of current licences, according to a Reuters dispatch from Bangkok. The prime minister instructed police to stop renewing purchase permits and reiterated that registered firearms must remain at home rather than carried in public, a rule in place since late 2023. Anutin also assigned a deputy to fast-track new legislation that would impose stronger controls along with significantly harsher penalties for violations, the government statement said.
The measures follow a shooting rampage last Friday by a 14-year-old pupil at Debsirin Nonthaburi School outside Bangkok, police reports confirmed. The teenager first used his grandfather’s handgun to kill both grandparents at their home before opening fire at the school on teachers and students, authorities detailed. He killed five staff members and a 12-year-old girl then took his own life, according to casualty figures released by the interior ministry that listed 23 others wounded including nine in critical condition.
Investigators determined the boy had taught himself to handle the weapon by watching online videos and showed intense interest in guns after consuming violent digital content, a police briefing stated. Officers noted that anxiety connected to his studies and family problems may have contributed to his actions, though they stopped short of establishing a definitive motive in their initial assessment. The case has drawn fresh attention to how easily firearms can reach young people despite existing regulations, the Bangkok Post reported.
Thailand holds an estimated 10.3 million civilian firearms, or roughly 15 guns per 100 residents, which the Small Arms Survey identified in 2017 as the highest rate across Southeast Asia. Of that total around 6 million weapons are registered while another 4 million remain unlicensed, the Geneva-based research group estimated. Firearm-related deaths totalled 1,292 in 2019, a drop from 2,953 recorded a decade earlier, Gunpolicy.org data shows.
The country has witnessed several mass shootings over the past six years, Reuters compilations of official records indicate. A former police officer killed 36 people including 22 children at a northeastern nursery in 2022, one of the deadliest incidents on record. After that attack the government, then led by Anutin as interior minister, introduced temporary licence bans, import curbs and mandatory mental health checks for owners, according to a subsequent Reuters review of policy changes.
Gun control advocates have pressed for routine mental health assessments and time-limited permits to be written into the pending law, local media outlets reported. Anutin signalled that tighter rules on ammunition sales would feature among the revisions while the education minister called for weapon-detection screening at all school entrances, ministerial statements confirmed. Officials are also weighing incentives for owners of the estimated 4 million unlicensed guns to surrender them voluntarily, a cabinet-level briefing disclosed.
