Thailand’s gun law is not tightened, months after the daycare massacre

• Mustafa Marghadi

  Southeast Asian correspondent

Jutamart Witthayapong had hoped that gun laws in Thailand would finally be tightened after the massacre in a kindergarten a month ago. A former police officer shot and stabbed 37 people, including 24 children. Prime Minister Prayut announced stricter laws. But they are not there yet.

Jutamart pulls his lips uncomfortably from top to bottom as he talks about gun violence in Thailand. “I’m angry. Because I know how much it hurts to lose a loved one.” The 23-year-old looks around at the few photos of her father hanging in her house. “He didn’t like taking pictures. So there aren’t many. None with him and me together.”

His father was a modest man, loved in his Bangkok suburb. He saw a fight about ten years ago and tried to calm her down. But one of the quarrels was a Thai like there are so many. He had a weapon. “When my father tried to take them apart, the gun exploded and he was hit in the face.” Jutamart’s lower lip starts to tremble so hard that he can’t explain the inevitable result of such a gunshot wound.

His father was one of 2,400 deaths each year from gun violence in Thailand. Much more than in neighboring countries. More than 30 percent more than in Pakistan, for example. That high number is directly linked to the high number of gun owners in Thailand, says Jirasak Tharajak. He is a lawyer at Thammasat University in Bangkok. “After the coup in 2014, for example, you have seen an increase in the number of gun registrations in the country. And with it, the number of gun deaths has increased.”

According to the international organization GunPolicy, there are more than six million legal gun owners in Thailand. But it is estimated that another four million Thais carry an illegal weapon. “I think the estimate is quite low,” says scientist Tharajak. In any case, these numbers mean that one in six Thais own a weapon.

One of them is the journalist Chart Suksomnuk. He comes out of his bedroom with a bag and takes out an old pistol and three magazines. “I got it from my grandfather. I once had another newer weapon. But I sold it to a police officer.” For safety, Suksomnuk shows a document to clarify that he has his weapon legally.

“I have this to protect me,” he says. And this is not paranoia. A year ago, his car that was parked in front of his house was hit by gunshots. Probably from someone who disagreed with his articles. “I think it was a warning.”

The graph was not present at the time. “Otherwise I could have used my weapon to return fire.” He takes his phone out of his pocket and shows photos of the bullet holes in his car. A couple of holes in the hood and two through the driver side of the windshield. “If I had been in the car I would have died instantly.”

Gun laws seem pretty strict in Thailand. Ten years in prison for possessing an unregistered weapon. It should also take several months before you can legally obtain a weapon. But walk through the Wang Burapha Phirom district in Bangkok and you’ll find forty to fifty gun shops there. Each with an owner who knows the law well enough to sell you a gun faster. And above all much cheaper.

“The current law is about 75 years old. There are a lot of loopholes. For example, there are subsidies for government employees, so sometimes you only pay 30 percent of the market value.” A government measure with which the former policeman also legally obtained his own weapon that he used in the childhood drama.

Prime Minister Prayut pointed to the author’s drug use, his psychological health. “There are overlapping problems between gun violence and drug addiction behavior,” the prime minister said. Anyone wishing to purchase a weapon should therefore undergo a psychological evaluation. But it is not yet clear if and when such a measure will take effect one month after the massacre.

“The arms market in Thailand is vast and only growing,” says the slightly veiled law scholar Tharajak. What he is trying to clarify is that the government has a big finger in the pie in that market. For example, almost all of the gun shops in Wang Burapha Pirom are owned by police officers or other government personnel. What if Tharajak thinks the government will continue to tighten gun laws? He starts laughing out loud.

Graphic Journalist is fine with it. “The current laws are pretty strict. They just need to be better enforced. And in the meantime, I want to be able to protect myself.” Moments later, he takes a full clip and wants to put it in his weapon. “Would you like to shoot a couple of times? It doesn’t matter if you have no experience. Then I’ll be your instructor.”

Relative Jutamart is disappointed that even 24 dead children won’t change anything. “And I can’t help it.” He looks at one of his father’s photos. “He was 39 years old. If I had known that he would live so short, I would have taken more photos and videos. I still remember his voice. But I fear that one day I will forget him.”