Dentistry student held for shooting at tourists

[euroflash]

The suspect is already out on bail, according to the Thai press. Big surprise

[RigPig]

So once again does anyone know where all these guns are coming from? Why does t seem that it is so easy for Thais to obtain hand guns? Can't it be shut down at the source?

[dru2]

What I'd like to know is where are all these guns coming from? They can't possibly all be legal, have you seen the price of a legal firearm in Thailand? Way beyond the sort of money an average working class Thai can afford! Are they old guns left over from a previous era? Guns aren't much good without ammo either, where is that coming from? It doesn't seem much of a problem for a Thai to obtain one. I've seen a few that have been shown me with some sort of pride. Beware of the Thai sitting in the corner with a little bag around his shoulder......

I would have thought older guns would be some sort of none common calibre, this was a 9mm so seems like a reasonably modern firearm.

The penalties for an illegal (unlicensed) firearm here are quite strict, and the law is quite specific about what you are allowed to do with them, what they are for, where you can carry one. Carrying a concealable firearm in public is an offence.

<deleted> is going on in this country, rifles are almost completely banned (a gun that can be used for hunting and target shooting) because they are paranoid of being shot from a distance but a pistol (which really only has one use) is OK.

TIT I guess

1961-1975 Vietnam War, 1975-1989 Khmer Rouge, 1962- ... well today - Myanmar / Burma conflict, not to mention Thailand's Deep South. The area is awash with guns of all types. The first time I visited Doi Mae Salong in 1983 I was offered an AK47. Now it's just green tea, so perhaps things are improving.

[dru2]

As is common nowadays in Thailand, the one who will be fined will be the dentistry student. The farang waitress will also be investigated and thrown out of Thailand for doing one of the 17 xenophobic job protection schemes.

Collateral damage by creating another victim is the Thai way to save their face.

I wonder what nationality she is. Did anyone see if the press mentioned.

Burmese? Chinese? Russian? Lisu?

How exactly would a foreigner waitress be working in a Chiang Mai restaurant???

Last I heard, the government wasn't exactly handing out work permits to foreigners for waitress work..

Lots of Burmese, especially if of Shan ethnic origin - many Thai authorities consider the latter to be family.

[Minnehaha]

As is common nowadays in Thailand, the one who will be fined will be the dentistry student. The farang waitress will also be investigated and thrown out of Thailand for doing one of the 17 xenophobic job protection schemes.

Collateral damage by creating another victim is the Thai way to save their face.

I wonder what nationality she is. Did anyone see if the press mentioned.

Burmese? Chinese? Russian? Lisu?

How exactly would a foreigner waitress be working in a Chiang Mai restaurant???

Last I heard, the government wasn't exactly handing out work permits to foreigners for waitress work..

Lots of Burmese, especially if of Shan ethnic origin - many Thai authorities consider the latter to be family.

Yes. obviously. Thai Yai (sp?)

In fairness, I think the gentleman's ignorant comments were made as a BKK entity with no sense of Thai language and no understanding of up country stuff. In fairness, I think he was looking from BKK POV and imagining getting a WP for a Russian hostess, etc. Of course that is absurd.

[atyclb]

He must have pulled his own wisdom teeth already

Dentistry school should be 3 or 4 years ...

He is in year 6

hmmmmmmm

He must have pulled his own wisdom teeth already

Dentistry school should be 3 or 4 years ...

He is in year 6

hmmmmmmm

Here is a case of multiple ignorant's liking a post from the primary ignorant that believes he is belittling a dental student. Not that I like what the guy did but dental school in Thailand as in many other countries (including G7 Europe) is typically 6 years. This is because they enter right after high school. Perhaps the brilliant OP is thinking every country in the world has a 3-4 year dental program, even so, that is usually after attaining an undergraduate degree. Even in such a highly advanced country such as USA (that relies on many India graduates via H1B genius visas) some students are in a 6 year dental program directly from high school. Typically these "6 year" program students are highly competitive to boot. I believe in Thailand it is also more difficult to enter dental school than regular undergraduate university.

[Salapoo]

So once again does anyone know where all these guns are coming from? Why does t seem that it is so easy for Thais to obtain hand guns? Can't it be shut down at the source?

Well no.... People pay money for them.... It's Thailand.

Why would they want stop them anyway, they're great for powerful people to kill people with then let everyone see how they can get away with it, thus becoming more powerful.

Beautiful, isn't it.

[harrycallahan]

Have we mentioned Dr Schnell yet? (is it safe?)

[Salapoo]

What a mess - flushing your whole life down the toilet for a brawl about a rejective waitress...

Just what do actually think is going to happen to him?

[atyclb]

He must have pulled his own wisdom teeth already

Dentistry school should be 3 or 4 years ...

He is in year 6

hmmmmmmm

He must have pulled his own wisdom teeth already

Dentistry school should be 3 or 4 years ...

He is in year 6

hmmmmmmm

Here is a case of multiple ignorant's liking a post from the primary ignorant that believes he is belittling a dental student. Not that I like what the guy did but dental school in Thailand as in many other countries (including G7 Europe) is typically 6 years. This is because they enter right after high school. Perhaps the brilliant OP is thinking every country in the world has a 3-4 year dental program, even so, that is usually after attaining an undergraduate degree. Even in such a highly advanced country such as USA (that relies on many India graduates via H1B genius visas) some students are in a 6 year dental program directly from high school. Typically these "6 year" program students are highly competitive to boot. I believe in Thailand it is also more difficult to enter dental school than regular undergraduate university.

May I add, in the past, in Spain in order to become a dentist, you had to complete medical school first (6-7 years) as a prerequisite to dental school, another 2 or 3 years, thus making the process to become a dentist 8-9 years or so.

[dru2]

Yes. obviously. Thai Yai (sp?)

In fairness, I think the gentleman's ignorant comments were made as a BKK entity with no sense of Thai language and no understanding of up country stuff. In fairness, I think he was looking from BKK POV and imagining getting a WP for a Russian hostess, etc. Of course that is absurd....

Yup, properly speaking Tai Yai. Sorry 'bout that. Thai = Thai nationality including Malay Muslims from the deep south, Hill Peoples, Isan Khmer and so on - even the occasional Farang - while Tai = Tai-speaking inc. Shan (Tai Yai), Tai Lu, Tai Yong, Tai Dam and so on... not necessarily resident in Thailand.

[rbrooks]

All aspects of Thai attitudes likely here, he probably would have opened fire if someone had flirted with his girlfriend and if she was at at fault he could have taken a page from a certain gentleman's book and re-arranged her face before considering defamation proceedings if she reported it.

I suppose he didn't have a large group of friends around to help take care of the foreigner so he went home to get his trusty " peacemaker ' and shot up a restaurant containing non-Thais.

Great material for TAT.

Great Thai warrior at work here once again.

[Briggsy]

It would be interesting to know which university he allegedly attends. I would find it hard to believe he is at Chiang Mai University, although you never know. Much more likely, the pay your fee, guaranteed pass, private university, go on shooting sprees type of university.

Edited June 23, 2013 by Briggsy

[Jim walker]

So sad for Thailand Same same every day another random Thai shooting what is happening to the Land of Smiles.

Edited June 23, 2013 by metisdead
Font size.

[antfish]

"What this guy did does deserve punishment of course, but I seriously doubt if his intent was murder, certainly not of the bystanders who got hurt." <deleted>? If you want to just scare someone, use firecrackers. Here is a link to stats from 2002. I don't think things have changed all that much for the better, but that year Thailand had 20k murders with firearms (Number 3 on list), and USA had 9.3k (4th). http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_wit_fir-crime-murders-with-firearms

at take a look at the per capital gun homicide rate in Thailand.

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_gun_vio_hom_fir_hom_rat_per_100_pop-rate-per-100-000-pop

Hopefully it's gotten a lot better later. This issue has been debated many times on TV...

that stats seems to be totally off and wrong.

Do a search in TV. It's been debated a bunch of threads and you can make up your own mind.

Basically Thailand has 1/6 the population of the US.

So for example let's say there are 10k deaths of this or that... To compare it to the US rate then multiply by six and compare.

If one believes X number of deaths to traffic in Thailand are 20k then 20K times 6 =120k.. That is a lot higher than the US.

Whatever your opinion on the exact numbers in Thailand I doubt you come away thinking the traffic or gun homicide rate in Thailand is low.

the nationmaster stats mixed up the numbers for all kinds of gun crimes with gun murder. thats why the number is so high.

the homicide rate match the homicide rate in the US. Now it its in your opinion if you think its dangerous high or a low risk.

[chooka]

As is common nowadays in Thailand, the one who will be fined will be the dentistry student. The farang waitress will also be investigated and thrown out of Thailand for doing one of the 17 xenophobic job protection schemes.

Collateral damage by creating another victim is the Thai way to save their face.

Are you sure the waitress is farang?

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

the nationmaster stats mixed up the numbers for all kinds of gun crimes with gun murder. thats why the number is so high.

the homicide rate match the homicide rate in the US. Now it its in your opinion if you think its dangerous high or a low risk.

In the previous threads and debate about stats from various sources I came away with personal conclusion it's higher risk per capita for gun homicide as compared to the entire US.

Significantly higher risk per capita unless somebody produces some new numbers that outweigh WHO and CIA factbook numbers etc.

Similarly for traffic deaths.

Obviously it varies a lot by location. Chiang Mai is relatively safer for gun deaths. Detroit is relatively dangerous.

But there are a lot of questions about numbers and most of the stats for Thailand are a few years old while the US has much more current stats. I suspect there are data collection and reporting issues that would distort some Thailand numbers.

Edited June 23, 2013 by CobraSnakeNecktie

[lee b]

I only hope he does not have rich parents so he cant buy his way out of this.

[Chicog]

Police investigation found that the suspect was drunk and had flirted with a foreigner waitress there, which upset her boyfriend who assaulted him, leading to the suspect's drive-by shooting.

The suspect said he was flirting with the waitress at the restaurant but she rejected him and her boyfriend, who is a foreigner, later assaulted him.

So is the waitress are foreigner or just her boy friend?

Is that place a place where local Thai man are not that welcome?

No it's a place where narcissistic little xxxxx are not welcome, like most.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Edited June 23, 2013 by metisdead
3) Not to post in a manner that is vulgar, obscene or profane.

[RigPig]

What I'd like to know is where are all these guns coming from? They can't possibly all be legal, have you seen the price of a legal firearm in Thailand? Way beyond the sort of money an average working class Thai can afford! Are they old guns left over from a previous era? Guns aren't much good without ammo either, where is that coming from? It doesn't seem much of a problem for a Thai to obtain one. I've seen a few that have been shown me with some sort of pride. Beware of the Thai sitting in the corner with a little bag around his shoulder......

I would have thought older guns would be some sort of none common calibre, this was a 9mm so seems like a reasonably modern firearm.

The penalties for an illegal (unlicensed) firearm here are quite strict, and the law is quite specific about what you are allowed to do with them, what they are for, where you can carry one. Carrying a concealable firearm in public is an offence.

<deleted> is going on in this country, rifles are almost completely banned (a gun that can be used for hunting and target shooting) because they are paranoid of being shot from a distance but a pistol (which really only has one use) is OK.

TIT I guess

1961-1975 Vietnam War, 1975-1989 Khmer Rouge, 1962- ... well today - Myanmar / Burma conflict, not to mention Thailand's Deep South. The area is awash with guns of all types. The first time I visited Doi Mae Salong in 1983 I was offered an AK47. Now it's just green tea, so perhaps things are improving.

I don't believe all of these hand guns are from these old armed conflicts, AK's I can see it but these crimes are being committed with what appear to be reasonably modern (9mm) weapons. Where is the ammo coming from? Guns are just a piece of metal without a bullet!

It seems to me there must be some sort of organized under the table importation of these weapons. Granted there are probably too many out there to control it now but close down the supply of ammo and you have made a big step forward. Once again one has to question the "ethics" of the authorities and BIB............

[antfish]

It would be interesting to know which university he allegedly attends. I would find it hard to believe he is at Chiang Mai University, although you never know. Much more likely, the pay your fee, guaranteed pass, private university, go on shooting sprees type of university.

assumption based on what?

[Briggsy]

It would be interesting to know which university he allegedly attends. I would find it hard to believe he is at Chiang Mai University, although you never know. Much more likely, the pay your fee, guaranteed pass, private university, go on shooting sprees type of university.

assumption based on what?

You are aware of the differences between Chiang Mai and, say, Payap Universities, aren't you?

[H1w4yR1da]

At the risk of being controversial, how about the clown farang that assaulted him in the first place? Did he not know that never ends well in Thailand?

Did the westerner actually assault him? We only have the Thai mutt's word and that's worthless.

[antfish]

It would be interesting to know which university he allegedly attends. I would find it hard to believe he is at Chiang Mai University, although you never know. Much more likely, the pay your fee, guaranteed pass, private university, go on shooting sprees type of university.

assumption based on what?

You are aware of the differences between Chiang Mai and, say, Payap Universities, aren't you?

He is a dentistry student. he doesn't study for a bachelor in hotel and dance.

[antfish]

At the risk of being controversial, how about the clown farang that assaulted him in the first place? Did he not know that never ends well in Thailand?

Did the westerner actually assault him? We only have the Thai mutt's word and that's worthless.

No westerners would never assault a Thai and are always nice and polite to them. specially if they look like student nerds with glasses.

[Manbing]

no one said the waitress was a farang, the boyfriend,'who is a foreigner'.

implying she was not, therefore she is Thai.

[rametindallas]

As is common nowadays in Thailand, the one who will be fined will be the dentistry student. The farang waitress will also be investigated and thrown out of Thailand for doing one of the 17 xenophobic job protection schemes.

Collateral damage by creating another victim is the Thai way to save their face.

I wonder what nationality she is. Did anyone see if the press mentioned.

Burmese? Chinese? Russian? Lisu?

How exactly would a foreigner waitress be working in a Chiang Mai restaurant???

Last I heard, the government wasn't exactly handing out work permits to foreigners for waitress work..

She might be from Lao, Cambodia, Malaysia, or Burma and no one would be suspicious that she was working illegally Very unlikely she was 'Farang'.

[neronimo]

He must have pulled his own wisdom teeth already

Dentistry school should be 3 or 4 years ...

He is in year 6

hmmmmmmm

dentistry is actually 7 years study at CMU, that's what my student dentist friend tells me...

[rametindallas]

What I'd like to know is where are all these guns coming from? They can't possibly all be legal, have you seen the price of a legal firearm in Thailand? Way beyond the sort of money an average working class Thai can afford! Are they old guns left over from a previous era? Guns aren't much good without ammo either, where is that coming from? It doesn't seem much of a problem for a Thai to obtain one. I've seen a few that have been shown me with some sort of pride. Beware of the Thai sitting in the corner with a little bag around his shoulder......

I would have thought older guns would be some sort of none common calibre, this was a 9mm so seems like a reasonably modern firearm.

The penalties for an illegal (unlicensed) firearm here are quite strict, and the law is quite specific about what you are allowed to do with them, what they are for, where you can carry one. Carrying a concealable firearm in public is an offence.

<deleted> is going on in this country, rifles are almost completely banned (a gun that can be used for hunting and target shooting) because they are paranoid of being shot from a distance but a pistol (which really only has one use) is OK.

TIT I guess

1961-1975 Vietnam War, 1975-1989 Khmer Rouge, 1962- ... well today - Myanmar / Burma conflict, not to mention Thailand's Deep South. The area is awash with guns of all types. The first time I visited Doi Mae Salong in 1983 I was offered an AK47. Now it's just green tea, so perhaps things are improving.

I don't believe all of these hand guns are from these old armed conflicts, AK's I can see it but these crimes are being committed with what appear to be reasonably modern (9mm) weapons. Where is the ammo coming from? Guns are just a piece of metal without a bullet!

It seems to me there must be some sort of organized under the table importation of these weapons. Granted there are probably too many out there to control it now but close down the supply of ammo and you have made a big step forward. Once again one has to question the "ethics" of the authorities and BIB............

FYI Gun stores are prevalent in the LOS. In Bangkok's Chinatown, near Pahurat and Yaowarat Road is/was a string of gun stores with prices about 40% higher than the U.S. If you carry large sums of cash or just know the local police well, you can get a permit. There are lots of people who make straw purchases for others. These are all modern guns. There is also a huge black market in guns where you can by stolen military weapons/ammo including M-60 machine guns and M79 grenade launchers. There is also a fairly active cottage industry of home-made weapons like you find in Pakistan, etc. Getting a gun in Thailand is as easy as getting a gun in the U.S. except Thais have a wider selection to choose from.

[atsiii]

More like the wild West every day, it seems.

Except that the per capita murder rate in Thailand is 2X that of the "wild west!"