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

[TAWP]

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.

Rotary membership, that is hilarious. Let's hope it doesn't apply to Pattaya, where an insanely high ratio of people in the Rotary club are criminals and crooks - including past presidents - and they would fail police background checks due to crimes in their home-nations. Since exposing criminals is a no-no on TV, I urge you to google around a bit.

[rijb]

How many criminals have gun permits?

Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that's it.

In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.

When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force.

The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gang banger, and a single guy on equal footing with a carload of drunk guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.

There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad force equations. These are the people who think that we'd be more civilized if all guns were removed from society. But, a firearm makes it easier for an armed mugger to do his job. That, of course, is only true if the mugger's potential victims are mostly disarmed either by choice or by legislative fiat - it has no validity when most of a mugger's potential marks are armed.

People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and that's the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a society where the state has granted him a force monopoly.

Then there's the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is fallacious in several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser.

People who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones don't constitute lethal force, watch too much TV, where people take beatings and come out of it with a bloody lip at worst. The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier, works solely in favor of the weaker defender, not the stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is level.

The gun is the only weapon that's as lethal in the hands of an octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weight lifter. It simply would not work as well as a force equalizer if it wasn't both lethal and easily employable.

When I carry a gun, I don't do so because I am looking for a fight, but because I'm looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I don't carry it because I'm afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn't limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force. It removes force from the equation--and that's why carrying a gun is a civilized act.

Marko Kloos

[dean999]

I agree with some of the comments on this forum. Like - if someone wants to kill, then they don't need a gun. Prime example http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8650626.stm. If you do more searching you could find more stories like this.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/lawyer-battered-wife-to-death-in-hammer-attack-1474938.html Shall we ban everything that could be used to kill?

Like someone pointed out, it's not guns that kill.....it's the brain dead wanna be gangsters. Very recent example http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-16331668

[Chonburiram]

Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force...Reason or force, that's it...

Marko Kloos

Is there no love in your little world?

[wxyz]

"The beauty of the second amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it."

Thomas Jefferson

"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms ... disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants, they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."

Thomas Jefferson

"When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."

Thomas Jefferson

[DLock]

If you don't like guns, or are scared of guns, it's pretty simple....don't get a gun.

Me, I like guns. I have 2 fully licensed handguns and shoot at the range regularly. I am permitted to transport my guns in the car - with ammo and clip stored in a locked box and the handguns in a separate locked box.

The police did come to visit with me to review my reasons for wanting a gun and were more than satisfied. I did ask what if someone did enter my property and I shot him. They said 2 things. First, make sure you kill him. Second, put 2 shots into the ceiling and claim that you fired 2 warning shots but he kept coming....just to reduce their paperwork.

[dean999]

The police arrive.............why does he have 30 bullets in him..........thats all i had in the mag. But i did get two warning shots off first.

Edited January 3, 2012 by dean999

[dean999]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ83KXUloP8&ob=av3e

Edited January 3, 2012 by dean999

[wxyz]

the message is clear, outlaw cRAPPERS, the 'C' is silent,,,

[Nisa]

If you don't like guns, or are scared of guns, it's pretty simple....don't get a gun.

Me, I like guns. I have 2 fully licensed handguns and shoot at the range regularly. I am permitted to transport my guns in the car - with ammo and clip stored in a locked box and the handguns in a separate locked box.

The police did come to visit with me to review my reasons for wanting a gun and were more than satisfied. I did ask what if someone did enter my property and I shot him. They said 2 things. First, make sure you kill him. Second, put 2 shots into the ceiling and claim that you fired 2 warning shots but he kept coming....just to reduce their paperwork.

You do sound like the typical hand gun owner.

[rijb]

Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force...Reason or force, that's it...

Marko Kloos

Is there no love in your little world?

Maybe... What are you wearing?

[softgeorge]

Why would a tourist want to buy a gun in the 1st place. If you go on a family Holiday of beaches, culture and sun and you have to arm yourself it's time to get a new travel agent. What are you going to do with it after your week in the sun? You can't take it home on the plane with you. Thailand has not evolved into the U.S.A yet where everyone need to carry a gun for protection. If it is starting to feel like the U.S then it is time to move to a safer place.

[DLock]

If you don't like guns, or are scared of guns, it's pretty simple....don't get a gun.

Me, I like guns. I have 2 fully licensed handguns and shoot at the range regularly. I am permitted to transport my guns in the car - with ammo and clip stored in a locked box and the handguns in a separate locked box.

The police did come to visit with me to review my reasons for wanting a gun and were more than satisfied. I did ask what if someone did enter my property and I shot him. They said 2 things. First, make sure you kill him. Second, put 2 shots into the ceiling and claim that you fired 2 warning shots but he kept coming....just to reduce their paperwork.

You do sound like the typical hand gun owner.

Nisa, I think I am fairly typical of a responsible handgun owner. My reason for owning is valid, they are stored safely, we are well trained, and beyond the gun range, they never leave the property.

Whilst I agree with the law that allows me to own a gun, I would welcome making it harder to get a license, with better registration process, national database, regular inspections, gun range testing certification and valid reasons for ownership. I would also welcome very harsh penalties for unlicensed guns and carrying in public.

But I do get your point.

[alexakap]

Just went to Burapha rd vendors to check this news.

The good news are: YES, they able to sell to foreigners (and they can sunbmit all paperworks for you). Work permin/house registration/id required, yes.

The bad news are: it IS only to Bkk residents. Those at Burapha said that house registration from foreigner MUST be in Bkk area. As i am living in Pathumthani, so I am out of luck and they rejected to do anything for me. They said, the law is very strict.

Also you must submit an ID (a Thai ID, I meant), not your homecountry's ID. Passports etc will not work.

This is what I was told. I visit 3 different shops, and all said the same.

Tomorrow I will try to connect to ThGov directly and ask the things from first hands. This should be not a big deal to get the licence itself, as I have all required documents. It is just a local Burapha vendors permissions not to do the service for non-their locations....who knows.

[chooka]

Why would a tourist want to buy a gun in the 1st place. If you go on a family Holiday of beaches, culture and sun and you have to arm yourself it's time to get a new travel agent. What are you going to do with it after your week in the sun? You can't take it home on the plane with you. Thailand has not evolved into the U.S.A yet where everyone need to carry a gun for protection. If it is starting to feel like the U.S then it is time to move to a safer place.

J.J the jetski man uses a gun to convince his victims to payup.

[metisdead]

An inflammatory post has been removed.

[TAWP]

Why would a tourist want to buy a gun in the 1st place. If you go on a family Holiday of beaches, culture and sun and you have to arm yourself it's time to get a new travel agent. What are you going to do with it after your week in the sun? You can't take it home on the plane with you. Thailand has not evolved into the U.S.A yet where everyone need to carry a gun for protection. If it is starting to feel like the U.S then it is time to move to a safer place.

There are several of us posting here that aren't tourists, but that live here. I know, why do we spend time on a board that might have started as a focus-point for tourists and semi-tourists? Because there is also more than that here now.

[BigC]

checked with a lawyer and he said that it is impossible for forigner to own a gun. So i wish i could have one but it does not look like i can legally.

It is all up to the mayor at the end of the day. if he does not wishe to sign for foangs then he shall not

[BigC]

Why would a tourist want to buy a gun in the 1st place. If you go on a family Holiday of beaches, culture and sun and you have to arm yourself it's time to get a new travel agent. What are you going to do with it after your week in the sun? You can't take it home on the plane with you. Thailand has not evolved into the U.S.A yet where everyone need to carry a gun for protection. If it is starting to feel like the U.S then it is time to move to a safer place.

having guns laws liek the US would not make people the same as the US Canada has simliar gun rules but it is the govenment that makes people parnoid not their gun laws

[BigC]

The police arrive.............why does he have 30 bullets in him..........thats all i had in the mag. But i did get two warning shots off first.

If you don't like guns, or are scared of guns, it's pretty simple....don't get a gun.

Me, I like guns. I have 2 fully licensed handguns and shoot at the range regularly. I am permitted to transport my guns in the car - with ammo and clip stored in a locked box and the handguns in a separate locked box.

The police did come to visit with me to review my reasons for wanting a gun and were more than satisfied. I did ask what if someone did enter my property and I shot him. They said 2 things. First, make sure you kill him. Second, put 2 shots into the ceiling and claim that you fired 2 warning shots but he kept coming....just to reduce their paperwork.

agreed if you own something and you have worked for it then you deserve the right to protect it. I know some people shall go crazy and shoot their families and schools but that is going to happen then it is going to happen.

England does not have the right to bear fire arms yet a policeman got the sack and went home and shot his family.

The only way to stop these thing occuring is to ban guns everywhere in teh world that is a very big thing considering how many countries, police soliders there are.

It is lie nuclear weapons. If you own a nuke then u r less likey to be bombed. Countries want them not to attack other countries but to stoo themsleves from being attacked.

This is the world and it is the way it is. I wish i could own a gun as i have had people brake in my house when i have been asleep and i have a child. i would probably kill myslef if someone attacked my child.

it is simple. Someone comes in your house. Bedrooms are locked. you have a camera outside your door wired into your tv. if someone is standing out side you shoot the door that has to be justified force.

Also you can use guns for sport in the army barracks and join gun clubs. Nothing wrong with it. There is as much wrong with it as playing a chess game. a game is a game no matter how simplistic it seems.

I do not know why people assume that legalising guns means more murders. The U.K has allot of gun crime. the criminals can be trigger happy. so why do people have a problem with people that do not have a criminal records wishing to aquire weapons for fun and for protection.

Shall we ban cars as they kill more people than guns????

[BigC]

So now we can put more guns on the streets in the cities. Cities like Pataya, Pukhet, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, And should I keep going?

Thats why the law is in place to prove you have income before being sold one.

your missing the point the guns can only be kept in the persons house and be taken in transit to the shooting range,

Thais get arrested all the time with liscenced guns, specially taxi drivers. They go to jail pay the bail then got to court pay the fine about 1500 baht then they get their gun back.

for a forgenger you may get deported and possibley 9 months.

Allot of people have guns in their thai wife's names but they get cockey and drive about with it . then bang into a road bloke and cash becomes king whiile you lie hopelessly in a jail sell.

[BigC]

People who have guns for sport, or have training and high knowledge about guns don't kill.

Ahh.... so that then explains the suspended Thai policeman the other day who got arrested for attempted murder for randomly shooting at cars on the expressway below... After he got drunk, got into an argument with a friend, wanted to shoot the friend but couldn't find him, and so decided to start randomly shooting at bypassing cars just to vent his anger...

Of course people with "training and high knowledge about guns don't kill." The other on-duty Thai cop just the other day who capped six of his co-workers with his gun and then ultimately shot himself to death as well wasn't killing... He was just engaging in a form of anger management therapy... Glad you clarified that point.

that is a typical point. Some people go crazy and let some off at innocent people so all the other inncoent people who own guns and do not do this get put in the same bracket. in the U.K we cannot own guns becasue of what someone else did. Calulate how many people do own guns and do use them legally against those who don't i bet the ratios are less than a plane crash

[BigC]

Ever heard of a knife or baseball bat? Should they outlaw knives and baseball games too? I can stick my ball point pen up your nose and kill you also, should we all switch to crayons instead? If i was a Ninja i could probably kill you with my bare fingers, ehh you get the point.

...

I could kill more people in one day with a truck than a gun can and have more fun doing it.

Do you really want to continue these silly arguments and pointless comparisons...

Obviously, there's a clear difference between guns and the other means you've cited...

When was the last time anyone heard of people getting killed in a drive-by pen in the nose spree?

Guns allow indiscriminate, multiple killing from a distance and give the average unarmed victim has relatively little way to defend themselves... They also allow for the regular and recurring (marginally) unintended killing of total innocent bystanders in all kinds of situations.

At least with knives, baseball bats, ballpoint pens or what have you, the perpetrator is pretty much going to be limited to one victim at a time in close physical proximity... The would-be victim at least has a somewhat better chance of escaping and/or defending themselves. The wounds, if inflicted, are probably less likely to be fatal.

I would have rather taken my chances with a drunk Thai policeman throwing knives, baseball bats or rocks off the overpass in a drunken rage vs. shooting his gun.

And likewise, if the Thai cop who just shot his 6 colleagues had only been armed with an knife, do you think just perhaps a few more of those guys would have survived by overcoming and disarming their psycho colleague before he had a chance slash/stab them all to death... I'd say that's a near certainty.

So let's stop with this foolishness, please...

do you think that criminals would respect police out hear if they were armed with knives.

guns keep the peice. In England people love a drunken brawl. sometimes ends with knives baseball bats broken legs and arms. i bet these things would happen less if they knew that there was a serious prospect that someone could get shot.

Not that anyone should be carrying them but maybe one in a car near by.

personally i would prefer street fights to end with a wipe of blood off the face then down the pub loser buys the drinks.

my point is that people tend to respect people more out hear. I wonder if one reason why a Thai thinks very carefully before they fight another Thai as it could be to the death.

sample .. a thai man fights a Thai man then knocks him down. The thai man who lost ocmes back later and shoots the winner of the fight.

the other sample a thai man fights a thai man knocks him down then shoots him to stop him getting vengance. Maybe this is why the Thais try to clear things before it escualtes which probably is an unlying reason why Thai people are peacefull and try to clear things before they go for the kill

[khunkeith]

about 15 years ago, at my former home in the US, someone entered my house uninvited. He had just opened the front door and had come inside and was in an obvious agitated state of mind. I told him to leave my house and he cursed at me. I had returned from a deer hunting trip earlier that day and my rifle and handgun (.357) had not been cleaned and stored as of yet and were within easy reach. The rifle was not loaded but the .357 was. I grabbed if and pointed it at him (about 3 meters away) and told him not to move. I called the police and, within minutes, 3 police cars pulled in front of my home. they ran to my house, carrying shotguns. They ran in and grabbed the intruder and threw him to the ground,cuffed him and put him in the back of a police car. The police told me they had been looking for him. Shortly before he had entered my house, he had been involved in a drug deal (crack) and something had gone and he had shot someone and then run.

What would have happened if I had not been armed? That will never be known. Perhaps I should have asked him in for tea and crumpets and to wait for the police to arrive and, being a polite young man, he would have had his tea and waited patiently for the police to arrive. But, I doubt that very seriously. The expression on his face, seeing a .357 pointed at him, told me he was going nowhere. The police told me later than his pants were wet and it was not water either. He had also thrown the gun he had used before away.

I have used guns since I was a kid, starting with my Dad's .22 rifle. I have had training with different weapons in the military and regularly went target shooting and hunting. Guns are a tool, no better and no worse than the person using them. They have been around for 100's of years and the technology is basically the same, expanding gasses pushing a lead pellet out a barrel.

A writer for the Washington Post was very anti gun and wrote articles about it regularly. In Washington DC, personal gun ownership was illegal (and also the murder capital of the US at the time). The writer for the Post had an intruder in his home and, shot him. Hmmmm, an anti gun staff writer not only owned and illegal gun but used it.

[BigC]

can you register your address to bangkok. then buy the gun and regiater it to that address. then change your residence address to where u live in thailand and then transfer the gun liscence back to your address.

would this mean changing the address of my company and work permit also??

if so then too much hassle there again it is something i could pay my accountabt to do so i would not have to do much running around

i got a warning for letting my gun off in public but the policeman let me off if i put it back in my trousers. Also working on my Man guns in the gun. doing 1000 pull ups a day. the ladies love me. ohh yeah baby>)

Edited January 5, 2012 by BigC

[alexakap]

checked with a lawyer and he said that it is impossible for forigner to own a gun.

Go to Burapha Rd and buy one. They sell to foreigners same way they sell for Thais. I just checked that myself yesterday.

Just follow the reqirements - and you'll get licence and the thing. They will even do a paperwork on your behalf.

[alexakap]

can you register your address to bangkok. then buy the gun and regiater it to that address. then change your residence address to where u live in thailand and then transfer the gun liscence back to your address.

It is not about just a "register the address". It is about having the "tabien baan", a property owner's book or how they call that. A blue one for the main owner, and a yellow one for co-owner (as far as I understand the difference between these two). And there is your full address, registered at the provincial municipality (amphur).

Renting a condo in Bkk will NOT provide you even a yellow tabien-baan. You will not be registered at amphur this way, so.....forget it.

Edited January 5, 2012 by alexakap

[TAWP]

Hmmmm, an anti gun staff writer not only owned and illegal gun but used it.

That is because anti-gun people, like most pro-big government statists, aren't oppose to guns per se, they just don't like the idea of others having them. Same with people that oppose gambling, violent movies or triple-beef hamburgers.

[wxyz]

this just in, with video

"Oklahoma Mother, 18, Kills Intruder Breaking Into Her Home While on Phone With 911"

"911 operator told young mother she could not shoot until man entered her home."

http://gma.yahoo.com/video/news-26797925/oklahoma-mother-18-kills-intruder-breaking-into-her-home-while-on-phone-with-911-27777235.html

[KRS1]

Anyone know if high powered air guns are legal to own?

Some have velocities of 38 caliber shells