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Bangkok Post
Bangkok Post
National

Anutin considering public gun ban

On Monday morning, mourners lay wreaths and flowers on Sunthorn Kosa Road in Klong Toey district where a teacher at Sacred Heart Convent School was killed by a stray bullet on Saturday during a clash between rival student gangs. (Photo: Chanat Katanyu)

Interior minister Anutin Charnvirakul said he is mulling over a prohibition on civilians from carrying guns in public.

Mr Anutin has consulted the Department of Provincial Administration (DPA) about amending the relevant law.

His comment follows three recent fatal shootings in Bangkok, the latest early on Monday morning.

Mr Anutin, also a deputy prime minister, was speaking on Monday during a visit to the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation.

He said he had consulted the DPA director-general about amending gun laws to impose stricter controls and prohibit people other than authorised officials from carrying a gun in public.

Currently, people who legally own a gun can carry it in public for self-defence if they obtain the necessary permit. 

On Saturday, shots were fired when two rival student gangs clashed in front of Sacred Heart Convent School in Bangkok's Klong Toey area. A teacher at a nearby bank ATM was killed by a stray bullet.

Early on Monday, about 2am, another shooting occurred involving rival youth gangs near the mouth of Soi Pattanakarn 53 on the frontage road of the Bangkok-Chon Buri motorway in Suan Luang district.

A 15-year-old Mathayom 5 student was struck by a bullet and killed. Police found six spent bullet cases scattered on the road.

The issuing of permits for importing and trading in firearms, real and replica, was suspended following the Oct 3 shooting at a Bangkok shopping mall, where a 14-year-old boy using a modified gun intended to fire blank ammunition fatally shot three people and wounded five others.

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