More Than 900 Guns Seized In Bangkok Last Year

[webfact]

More than 900 guns seized in capital last year

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The Metropolitan Police yesterday announced the combined seizure of 767 illegal guns in Bangkok in three major crackdowns last year.

The first crackdown, from June 22-26, saw police seize 240 illegal guns, with the largest number being seized in Metropolitan Police Area 1 covering Din Daeng, Huai Kwang and Makkasan.

The second crackdown, from July 23-28, saw police seize 349 guns, with Area 1 again having the highest number at 87. The third crackdown, from September 7-16, saw police seize 178 guns with Area 1 again seeing the highest number at 40 guns.

Police said Metropolitan Police Area 1 was a highly populated inner-city area with various entertainment venues.

City police also announced that during a separate crackdown on war weapons and drugs on October 25-29, two war weapons, 52 registered guns, 41 illegal guns and 72 home-made guns were seized, while 1,066 drug suspects were nabbed.

-- The Nation 2013-01-03

[bushwacker]

In Thailand, I guess 900 = 767. No wonder my invoices are always screwed up.

[brownknees]

Probably thousands out there.What happens to the confiscated weapons!!!

[whybother]

In Thailand, I guess 900 = 767. No wonder my invoices are always screwed up.

133 of them were legal guns. They went through the gun registry so they could get their numbers up.

[submaniac]

I note that the largest number of guns confiscated were home made. Even I am getting sick of getting in another gun control debate, but what needs to be understood by the pro-gun control crowd, and this crowd usually doesn't know that much about guns because they are anti-gun, is that guns are actually fairly easy to make. Even if you outlaw them completely, the criminals are still going to have them because they will make them.

[caykay]

Wow! That's like 1 gun for every .0000001 of a person. The only thing missing from this article is a bunch of photos of Thai police doing nothing

[edwinchester]

It would have been very informative if the reporter had bothered to ask what the average sentence/punishment was for those individuals from whom the weapons were seized.

[noitom]

It would be neat to know how many of these guns end up being sold back to the black market by police.

[bigbamboo]

I wonder what the figure is for guns seized FROM the army, police, border patrol etc?

[caykay]

I wonder what the figure is for guns seized FROM the army, police, border patrol etc?

0

[whybother]

I wonder what the figure is for guns seized FROM the army, police, border patrol etc?

0

zero by the police. A lot more seized by insurgents.

[ezzra]

"More than 900 guns seized in capital last year"

And there are 9,000,000 more in the hands of Rambo wannabes, and stupid misguided

teens,,,

[Nisa]

In Thailand, I guess 900 = 767. No wonder my invoices are always screwed up.

More Than 900 Guns Seized

The first crackdown, from June 22-26, saw police seize

240

illegal guns

.

The second crackdown, from July 23-28, saw police seize

349

guns

The third crackdown, from September 7-16, saw police seize

178

guns

October 25-29,

two

war weapons,

52

registered guns,

41

illegal guns and

72

home-made guns were seized

240+349+178+2+ 52+41+72 = 934 TOTAL

To continue with you logic and generalizations ... I guess we should assume you read your invoices like you read data you go on to quote incorrectly and that either foreigners can't do basic math or feel so insecure they will ignore all facts to feign superiority. However, we know this is not true and it is just a few posters who usually are very persistent and consistent spreading their negative views.

Edited January 3, 2013 by Nisa

[Nisa]

I note that the largest number of guns confiscated were home made.

They only mention 72 of the over 900 as being homemade.

Edited January 3, 2013 by Nisa

[submaniac]

it was only October 25 to 29 did they specify which guns were homemade, legal, or illegal. So of the only time they specified, home made was the majority. I suspect that that would have been the trend on the other days they did a crackdown but they never identified one way or the other.

Edited January 3, 2013 by submaniac

[Nisa]

it was only October 25 to 29 did they specify which guns were homemade, legal, or illegal. So of the only time they specified, home made was the majority. I suspect that that would have been the trend on the other days they did a crackdown but they never identified one way or the other.

Not sure if you are correct or not since the raids were for different reason but thanks for clarifying as there is definitely logic in your assumption. And without a doubt there are lots more homemade guns I see and hear about here than I am used to back home. I see a number of kids on Facebook post pictures of themselves with these homemade guns and sadly they are actually good kids but either something is going on that they feel a need to feel more powerful or these homemade things are very easy to come by. Lets face it, it is not uncommon for teenage boys just about anywhere to want to hold or shoot a gun but I see a lot more of the kids here who either feel a need or just stupidly post these pics on facebook. (FYI, have older kids in US and Thailand and see a lot of their friends and friends or friends postings)

[submaniac]

actually, these homemade things are easy to come by...apparently they make them in shop class at vocational schools.

[Nisa]

actually, these homemade things are easy to come by...apparently they make them in shop class at vocational schools.

That actually makes perfect sense. Times are changing, we used to make pipes and bongs in our shop classes.

[Nisa]

Wow! That's like 1 gun for every .0000001 of a person. The only thing missing from this article is a bunch of photos of Thai police doing nothing

Actually it is closer to .00007 as Bangkok Metro has near 15 million people and is not the total numbers of illegal weapons seized in the year but rather just for these programs (raids).

To put things in perspective or for comparison sake ... In the news this last week LA had a gun buy back program Dec. 26th (turn in illegal guns for grocery coupons and no questions asked) and there was over 2,000 guns turned in of which two were grenade launchers. LA Metro has a population of near 13 Million. Of course just like the raids mentioned in the OP, this is not a reflection of number of illegal guns taken off the street for the entire year.

[Halion]

A drop in the ocean. This country is crawling with firearms and the home made pipe guns are minimal in the overall picture of the volume of semi and fully automatic pistols and rifles in the public domain. In most provences, locals can purchase at discounted prices from both military and especially police officers. no registration , no licence. Almost impossible to control or reverse, as the ones who are supposed to uphold the law and control firearms legislation are the same ones who have created the black market firearm syndrome which has been prevelant here for years

To me giving many Thai's an illegal firearm is akin to putting a spastic in the cockpit of an F16. Their up bringing ,culture and attitude, along with abysmal law enforcement simply make this a problem which will be with them for years to come.

Perhaps not to long before Kevlar vests will be sold in local markets.

[moonbarman]

934 guns in 26 days of course there is'nt a gun problem in Thailand 55555

[sunshine51]

Just a drop in the proverbial bucket.

There are over 10 millon legal "guns" owned by civilians with

perhaps 6 times that many illegal guns in Thailand.

Google it....think of the task as a learning adventure.

[Nisa]

Just a drop in the proverbial bucket.

There are over 10 millon legal "guns" owned by civilians with

perhaps 6 times that many illegal guns in Thailand.

Google it....think of the task as a learning adventure.

So basically just about enough "illegal" guns for nearly every man, women and child in Thailand.

Although there is a lot of guns in Thailand ...

From: "Seventh United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems 1998-2000". and http://en.wikipedia....and#cite_note-3 via http://en.wikipedia....ion_in_Thailand

The number of guns held by civilians in Thailand is estimated to be 10,000,000, which puts the country at eleventh in world rankings for number of guns held. Out of these 10,000,000 guns, only 3,870,000 of them are registered, leaving over 6,000,000 under illegal possession.

[3]

Edited January 4, 2013 by Nisa

[nurofiend]

guns don't kill people, people with guns do.

[Nisa]

934 guns in 26 days of course there is'nt a gun problem in Thailand 55555

Guns are not a problem (only potential problem) if they are not being used for illegal means. Keep in mind I am far from a gun lover and believe in strict gun control except for possibly shotguns in the home (best weapon for protection in the home) and for hunting rifles that folks should pay a fee to store at the police station and go pick up when they want to go hunting. My point is that I am not so sure Thailand has a serious gun violence or crimes committed with a gun problem as compared with many other countries that have as many hand guns. The stats are wrong online that list number of murders with guns in Thailand as they exceed the number of all murders in Thailand (not sure if this is because of a mistake in reporting or an typo in where a decimal point should have went) but best I can tell is there is not a lot of armed robberies and murders or rapes where guns are used here going by the news ... then again my comparison is largely based on the news in US and although I don't read much UK news, my guess is the figures would be extremely high. Anyway, just seems like the murders here are largely by knife or other means and not by guns which seems odd given all the reports of how many guns there are. Credible sources say there are 10 Million in the of legal and illegal guns hands of the public (not police / army) and this would mean a gun for 1 out of every 7 people. Then when you take away the very elderly and very young the ratio would be much higher but for the sake of argument lets say this is offset by the folks who own multiple guns, that still seems like a HUGE number of guns out there when at least in my recollection, most murders and violent crimes i read about here don't involve guns and it would seem it should be very much the opposite given the number of guns out there.. instead I see more machetes being pulled out when somebody goes over the edge here and have never actually sees anyone pull out a gun ... but again this is just based on my personal observations and not backed up with any real data.

Edit - to be clear ... Thailand clearly has a gun and gun violence problem but am only saying it would seem the gun violence problem isn't as bad as one might think it would be considering the number of guns available and my guess is few are hunting or shot guns but rather hand guns or assault weapons. I guess I also question the figures on number of guns ... just consider the redshirt riots where the weapons of choice were spears, petro bombs, homemade rockets and slingshots. There was surely guns but not that many and these folks really did want to hold back the army and police at what appeared to be at almost any cost .... surely if you are willing to throw a lit bottle of gasoline at police you'd have no problem shooting at them if you had access to a gun.

Edited January 5, 2013 by Nisa