After Chalong Rueangraeng shot Police Colonel Thongchai Yenprasert, Nonthaburi PAO president, PM Anutin Charnvirakul ordered a major Firearms Act overhaul on August 11 — health checks for applicants, a crackdown on illegal guns. The numbers are in the spotlight again.

Thailand 🇹🇭 holds about 10.4 million guns — most in ASEAN, 13th in the world (Small Arms Survey). ~6 million are legal; ~4 million are outside the system — 4 in 10 unregistered. The rate is 15.1 per 100 people, 48th globally. Gov/military hold ~1.1 million; 9 million-plus in civilian hands.

The problem is a gap in the law. Thailand issues licenses fairly strictly, but once granted, there is no ongoing review of whether the holder is still suitable — no checks on mental health, behavior, or violence history. No surprise, then, that registered guns appear in crimes while 4 million illegal guns sit outside oversight. Many countries renew gun licenses like driver’s licenses, re-checking every time — Thailand has no such mechanism yet.

Against world standards, 18 countries ban civilian guns outright. Japan 🇯🇵 is the strictest: guns only for sport and hunting, with health checks, neighbor interviews, and license renewal every three years. Other outright-ban countries include Myanmar, North Korea, Mali, Somalia, Cambodia, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Timor-Leste, Fiji, Comoros, Solomon Islands, Maldives, Brunei, Seychelles, Marshall Islands, Palau, Nauru, and Vatican City. The United States 🇺🇸 is the opposite — 120.5 guns per 100 people, about 40% of all civilian guns on Earth — because the right to bear arms is constitutional.

The lesson: legal structure and gun culture decide everything. Outright bans show a safe society does not have to depend on personal guns.

A gun in a criminal’s hands harms people; a gun in a good person’s hands helps people. A knife chops vegetables — enormously useful — but stab someone and the punishment is enormous too. Root cause: strict, serious, straightforward law enforcement.

Sources: Small Arms Survey; World Population Review 2026; Thai PBS