Bangkok Gun Shops: What's Inside And Why Tourists Can't Buy

[TechnikaIII]

Those who live by the sword, die by the sword.

(Say what you like, .. I won't be back to see it.)

[KRS1]

Yes stop with the foolishness of banning guns.

The cop your talking about could have been stopped by another gun.

You just dont get it do you? if guns are banned, only criminals will have them.

[endure]

I would argue that all of those gun shops should be forbidden to feel weapons to expats and Thai people alike. Only mentally sick people need a gun, it is after all an extension of a certain organ, that is probably too short or not working. Sell weapons and you get the mess that the US and the Philippines are in, including school murders, random shootings and a new mister Breivik will emerge soon. (Lot's of nice little Islands in Thailand after all).

There is no need for a gun in the hands of non police (and even they should not all get one) or army. Anyone who comes up with the bullocks statements that guns do not kill are fooling themselves Gun owners are not blessed with too many working brain cells though

I am with you 101%. Could not agree more!!!

LOL give me a break, then every house in Switzerland must be filled with sickos HAH! What ever, you don't like em, fine, don't buy em, stay defenseless and call the police. Personally, my family's and my life are worth more to me than that.

Every house in Switzerland has someone living in it who was trained by the military in handling firearms.

[thailand49]

Not a real gun? but is it against the law to own a BB Gun? I shot one off the other day and it packed a pretty good punch?

[makescents]

I don't think guns are necessarily bad, after all a kitchen knife can be used to kill someone.

It's just it tends to be the dickheads holding them.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Yes stop with the foolishness of banning guns.

The cop your talking about could have been stopped by another gun.

You just dont get it do you? if guns are banned, only criminals will have them.

That's strange.. I don't recall anywhere here advocating banning guns....

I was just objecting to your silly assertion that guns are no different than other means/methods of killing... when in fact... they clearly are more deadly and post a much greater risk of death to those unfortunate enough to encounter someone armed with a gun.

The 6 Thai cops who died might well have had a chance to disarm their colleague, if he hadn't been armed with a gun that enabled him to shoot them all in rapid succession first before they could do much to escape or defend themselves. Try that with your ballpoint pen.

Owning a gun is nothing more than throwing a rock to see if you can knock down a beer can, its about accuracy and skill and fun as hell too shoot when you blast a watermelon.

So in your view then, which were the 6 Thai cops who were gunned down... beer cans or watermelons???

Edited January 2, 2012 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[surangw]

How many criminals have gun permits?

[TomTao]

As I understand it, the reason every house has a gun in Switzerland is because everyone who is of age is conscripted into the military before becoming part of the country's reserve force, and all members are required to have thier weapon in thier home with them at all times.

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Edited January 2, 2012 by TomTao

[housepainter]

I bought mine not from the a Pattaya gun shop where they charged a fortune but asked no questions, but rather from the myriad of up country policemen wanting to earn a few bob.

Hence I started quite a collection.

At first it was in the belief that we had a gun to hand 'under the bed' for when we were burgled in the dead of night.

Then, rather than transfer it to the car, we got another; in fact a pair of his and hers, just in case we car-jacked, ambushed or attacked whilst out driving on some empty, lonely country road.

Later, I decided that if were we attacked and far from help, a shot gun may be a better response as it meant less aiming, more fire power and noise. It also meant we were now carrying quite a stash of spare ammo, plus having a narrow case similar to that for carrying a clarinet, on the back seat to conceal the weapon.

Shortly afterwards we chose to have a pair of assault rifles so that we could keep any attackers at bay, use deadly force and lay down enough fire to deter anyone else from lending reinforcements.

I finally drew a line under my purchasing when I seriously considered buying Bond's gun for no other reason than my fantasies were getting completely out of hand.

My decision to change my ways saw me explore the nucleur missile market in Bangkok which led me into buying a range of artillery that delivers a cluster bomb effect at a distance of 100 kms and though it covers an area the size of football pitch can be dropped within a single metre of the intended target.

The wife now feels quite safe and is content to do the graveyard shift while I catch some shut eye.

Having said that, anyone trying to clamber over the electric fence would be fried and then finished off by the free roaming rottweilers we keep just beyond the pirannha infested moat.

I make my own dum-dums by the way.

[tracer5050]

Can you get a tazer in thialand ??While back i US i looked at one but they said yoould not take one out of the US with put a permit?? Used on while I was working in US .. Awesome weapon.. Beats having to shoot someome .

[TomTao]

You see tazers for sale at kiosks in BigC and Tesco, probably in MBK and others, not sure about the quality though.

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[MaxYakov]

Just out of curocity, is there any game hunting in Thailand, birds etc...?

Are farangs in the Thai 'game' category these days I wonder?

Anyway, don't know much about hunting in Thailand myself (other than the human 'bird' variety), but there is this tidbit:

http://planetsave.co...y-hunting-scam/

[Arkady]

Foreign Business Owners have always been allowed to own guns here. On your permit it will say that you can only have the gun in your possession from your home to your business and also to the Bank that your business is registered with. Anywhere outside that triangle and you could be in trouble AND lose your gun, business etc.

You need a carry permit to take a gun out of your home which has to the address on your tabien baan. Without one you certainly cannot legally take one to the bank or your office. Carry permits are prohibited for foreigners but are extremely hard for any one to get and need to be renewed annually. Most foreigners who have them would be diplomats or DEA agents working in Thailand. I believe it is possible to buy a gun in the name of a company to be held by a registered user but in that case it must stay at the registered office of the company.

Edited January 2, 2012 by Arkady

[Beetlejuice]

I would argue that all of those gun shops should be forbidden to feel weapons to expats and Thai people alike. Only mentally sick people need a gun, it is after all an extension of a certain organ, that is probably too short or not working. Sell weapons and you get the mess that the US and the Philippines are in, including school murders, random shootings and a new mister Breivik will emerge soon. (Lot's of nice little Islands in Thailand after all).

There is no need for a gun in the hands of non police (and even they should not all get one) or army. Anyone who comes up with the bullocks statements that guns do not kill are fooling themselves Gun owners are not blessed with too many working brain cells though

Absolutely common sense and couldn’t agree more. I’m with you all the way on this one.

This means that any brain dead retards can easily obtain a deadly weapon.

The frightening part is, that it`s up to the discretion of the gun owners when and where they decide to use them. Although some may believe they are intelligent and responsible enough to carry such weapons, we must almost note that there are many loons out there who would not hesitate to use a gun should they feel the need to do so.

These days one cannot afford to get into any disputes, that includes neighbors, on the roads and out in public, because we have no idea just how many nutters out there are carrying guns.

Scary stuff, it sends shivers down my spine just thinking about it.

[Arkady]

The article doesn't make clear what legal change, if any, has taken place. It is possible there was a temporary local ban on sales to foreigners imposed in Bangkok by the governor but I have never heard of anyting like this in Bangkok. However, I believe that the Phuket governor bans, or has previously, banned sales of guns to foreigners. However, to my knowledge, there has never been any ban on foreigners owning guns in the national police regulations since they were introduced in the late 40s. The regulations may have been updated but when I last read them there was no mention of the word "foreigner" anywhere. The requirements were simply as stated above, i.e. national lD, a tabian baan, evidence of employment, evidence of money in the bank (used to be B40k) and a plice clearance. Before the 2008 amendment to the Civil Regisration Act, it was quite hard for foriegners to get a tabian baan which effectively barred most of them.

Edited January 2, 2012 by Arkady

[CNXBKKMAN]

Not a real gun? but is it against the law to own a BB Gun? I shot one off the other day and it packed a pretty good punch?

A long time ago someone told me that under thai law it fires plastic bb's its not gun, even if it looks like the real thing, metal construction etc. If the gun fires metal such as .177 pellet made of lead, just a regular air pistol, low powered etc, it is considered a real gun. You need the same license as a firearm, and its subject to tax and 500% price mark up the gun shops seem to apply.

I have seen a .177 BSA air pistol in a Bangkok gun shop (5000 baht if bought in the UK) being sold for 25000 baht!!! the shop owner told me you could only buy it with a license and the price was due to import taxes.

[Nisa]

I would argue that all of those gun shops should be forbidden to feel weapons to expats and Thai people alike. Only mentally sick people need a gun, it is after all an extension of a certain organ, that is probably too short or not working. Sell weapons and you get the mess that the US and the Philippines are in, including school murders, random shootings and a new mister Breivik will emerge soon. (Lot's of nice little Islands in Thailand after all).

There is no need for a gun in the hands of non police (and even they should not all get one) or army. Anyone who comes up with the bullocks statements that guns do not kill are fooling themselves Gun owners are not blessed with too many working brain cells though

Agree for the most part but would change the word "guns" to "hand guns" or of course assault rifles. I have no problem with sane people having a shotgun in their home for protection or a hunting rifle.

I'm pretty sure where people use stats to support lower murder rates in areas with a higher concentration of guns that it is not hand gun owned by the vast majority.

[ttelise]

That is absolute silliest study. Goes to show get a study to show anything you want. A bit surprised a Harvard study would ignore primary factors and intangibles, but alas probably some students serving as summer clerks for a large firm representing NRA lobbyist. Reality is, most Southern States where certain socio-economic factors pervade have murder rates in the 15 to 20 per 100,000 range. I have practiced law in many if these areas and seen alarming cases where value in human life was no more than a chicken leg. Literally, a man shot and killed for refusing to give another man a chicken wing.

The more guns we put on the streets, the higher the violent crime rates. Owning a gun for defense purposes is just a means to get shot quicker. Intelligent people with good moral qualities and a lot to lose will always hesitate. These little bloods, crips or whatever won't hesitate, but most will leave victim alive if victim gives over car, watch or money and does not pull a gun. Seen it over and over again.

More guns means more dead when in cities with large minority makeup that have less money and lower educational levels. Absolute war fare in some of these cities. I live in Destin, Florida as primary residence and quess what, no guns anywhere and no crime, much less a murder with a gun. More of a function of the type and class of people that live here. Lived in Atlanta and Memphis also where so many individuals carry gun with permits and without. Does it deter? Heck no. Murder rates 15 to 17 per 100,000.

The only study with a shred of validity would impossible to conduct. Simultaneous measure of murder rate with and without legalized guns readily accessible to anyone over a given time frame.

There are enough rosey white areas in US where crime is not present to skew results, but highest concentrations of guns and people likely to use them are located in South, Albequerque, Southern California and etc. Murde rate is almost purely a function of economic disparity, culture, education level, religious and philosophical convictions and basically how much one has to lose using it or if they are whacked on some drugs. Concluding that availability of guns for defensive purposes lowers murder rate is laughable. Those lilly white sheltered idealist need to spend a week walking around down town Memphis and see first hand what gun ownership perpetuates.

Edited January 2, 2012 by ttelise

[Nisa]

Can you get a tazer in thialand ??While back i US i looked at one but they said yoould not take one out of the US with put a permit?? Used on while I was working in US .. Awesome weapon.. Beats having to shoot someome .

I see them sold but have also read that although they are not classified as lethal weapons they can only be kept in your home for protection.

Interesting that they are labeled as non-lethal because few Thai police carry them and then almost solely in Bangkok and I know they aren't allowed to use them unless in extreme cases such as a hostage situation ... unlike the US where they are also considered non-lethal and the police can pretty much use them anytime if somebody is not complying with their orders and in many places they can also be carried concealed.

Then again, I think it is also illegal to carry a knife in Thailand.

[crowbait]

I was intrigued by "Eyes Wide Open's" post which seemed to be hypothesising that countries that had fewer guns per household did not have the lower gun homicide rates and, being a statistician (retired-hooray!), I thought I'd take a look:- http://www.guncite.com/gun_control_gcgvinco.html gives a table of comparisons for the mid-nineties which to my quick "eye-ball" does not seem to support the hypothesis. In fact I would say that there does not seem to be any direct corellation so I would ask for more data - things like population densities, age-related population stats, age related homicide stats etc to see if there were identifiable trends.

My gut feeling is that if you're going to commit murder, you'll do it with whatever you have to hand but if you have a gun in your belt, you don't have to think about it too hard............................I hate you BANG-BANG!

It's a funny old world.

[South]

In over 20 years seen a gun used only twice. Once by a pee'd up guy in a coffee shop in Hatyai (fired into the cieling) and the other in a drive-by assassination for better words. (Seen remnants of a few other shootings) Seen other guns 'drawn' only a couple of other times, pretty much only for show.

All local on local.

Why any farang foreigner needs a gun here is .... well, just plain stupid. Live by the gun and somewhere along the line you'll (insert own answer here ............................)

[Nisa]

I was intrigued by "Eyes Wide Open's" post which seemed to be hypothesising that countries that had fewer guns per household did not have the lower gun homicide rates and, being a statistician (retired-hooray!), I thought I'd take a look:- http://www.guncite.c...l_gcgvinco.html gives a table of comparisons for the mid-nineties which to my quick "eye-ball" does not seem to support the hypothesis. In fact I would say that there does not seem to be any direct corellation so I would ask for more data - things like population densities, age-related population stats, age related homicide stats etc to see if there were identifiable trends.

My gut feeling is that if you're going to commit murder, you'll do it with whatever you have to hand but if you have a gun in your belt, you don't have to think about it too hard............................I hate you BANG-BANG!

It's a funny old world.

I think all these studies miss a big mark by considering all guns and not focusing on hand guns. The number of hunting rifles and even shotgun murders are dwarfed by the number of handgun murders. Hand guns are much more accessible, carried and concealed and are generally bought by people for these reasons. A person simply looking to protect their home will almost always opt for a shotgun ... the chambering sound alone is usually enough to scare somebody off. Hunters are also a different bread but typically people owning a hand gun often have a fantasy of wanting to use it or possibly worse get it for self-esteem issues. There really is few reasons to own a hand gun unless you fall into a very very tiny percentage of the population who may be at risk in public ... and even then how often does a non-law enforcement officer ever use their handgun for protection outside their home or business where a shotgun would have also been sufficient?

My experience is many people that own and carry handguns are often reckless folks who claim to have it for protection but are the same type of people who speed or don't buckle up while in a vehicle even though their chance of dying in an accident is astronomically higher than being attacked by somebody.

[metisdead]

A post suggesting illegal activity has been removed.

[Nisa]

As I understand it, the reason every house has a gun in Switzerland is because everyone who is of age is conscripted into the military before becoming part of the country's reserve force, and all members are required to have thier weapon in thier home with them at all times.

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It appears that this is the case and they are issued rifles (accept officers) and not hand guns. The rounds they are given are sealed and inspected regularly. Also appears that the sale of ammo for these weapons is controlled and registered except at a shooting range which must be used at the range. http://en.wikipedia....rmy-issued_arms

See: http://en.wikipedia....rmy-issued_arms

Edited January 3, 2012 by Nisa

[Debothai]

I would be interested to own a gun for my family protection, but I would need to train first, as I have never shot with a handgun or revolver, although I have shot with a AK-47, G3 and HK-11 (sub machine gun). Where is a good shooting club that accepts foreigners?

[PattayaParent]

No, I'm not whining as I'm a person on a retirement extension of stay and financially secure with pensions & savings with no plans in leaving Thailand...but if I could just get one of those work permits I could possibly move up a notch in Thai society and then get a gun and unsecured credit card.

Guess you are just gonna have to make do on the bottom rung of the ladder.

He's actually one rung up from being an English teacher

[Naam]

G3 and HK-11

Bundeswehr for sure.

[PattayaParent]

I was intrigued by "Eyes Wide Open's" post which seemed to be hypothesising that countries that had fewer guns per household did not have the lower gun homicide rates and, being a statistician (retired-hooray!), I thought I'd take a look:- http://www.guncite.c...l_gcgvinco.html gives a table of comparisons for the mid-nineties which to my quick "eye-ball" does not seem to support the hypothesis. In fact I would say that there does not seem to be any direct corellation so I would ask for more data - things like population densities, age-related population stats, age related homicide stats etc to see if there were identifiable trends.

My gut feeling is that if you're going to commit murder, you'll do it with whatever you have to hand but if you have a gun in your belt, you don't have to think about it too hard............................I hate you BANG-BANG!

It's a funny old world.

Every Swiss male over the age of 18 owns an automatic rifle yet there don't seem to be any 'Columbine' incidents there compared to the many in US.

[gamini]

I got a permit from my amphur and the shotgun I bought did not cost much. I guess if I wanted to live in Pattaya I would buy a handgun what ever the cost and carry it everywhere

When did you do this? In what province do you live? We live in BKK.

It was some time ago up north in a small town. I was interviewed in Thai and had to explain why I needed a firearm and asked questions about myself. I did not need a police report because being a local rotary club member appeared enough proof of good Character.

[risky11]

For the gun haters out there, the figures don't lie. The criminals are already armed. When law abiding citizens are given the opportunity to defend themselves and their assets, murder rates go way down. When are deprived of the right to defend themselves, murder rates skyrocket. You gun haters are rotting for the criminals in fact. You are the ones that are full of BS. AND you are violating TV rules. Please leave...