A school shooting in Thailand left 8 people dead, and more than 30 people injured. The teenager who carried out the attack also killed himself. The 14-year-old boy apparently first shot and killed his
grandparents with his grandfather's handgun, before heading to the school and killing
five teachers and a 12-year-old girl. It's not the first mass shooting in Thailand; only the most recent. But it must be the last. Sign the petition to urge Thailand's prime minister Anutin Charnvirakul to follow through on a promise to pass stronger gun safety laws to keep the public safe!This is just the latest in a growing list of gun-related horrors in Thailand.
In the past 6 years, there have been at least 5 mass shootings - now 6, including the most recent massacre. One of the deadliest of these mass shootings was in 2022, when a former police officer killed 22 children and 14 adults, for
a total of 36 people. The children had been inside a childcare facility, sleeping.
Thailand has extremely loose gun regulations.
Out of all southeast Asian countries, it has the highest rate of gun ownership among civilians. In 2017, research by
Small Arms Survey found that it had the 1
3th-highest total amount of gun possession, out of all countries in the world. With 10.3 million guns in the country, that's a rate of around 1 gun per every 7 people. There is no mandatory mental health screening for gun ownership, and no mandatory reassessments to ensure the appropriateness of gun ownership for someone.
Guns are designed to kill people, quickly. They are weapons of war and death. These are not objects that should just be floating around in public spaces with easy access.
That's why we're relieved to know that Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul is proposing new gun safety regulations. Sign the petition to support public safety for the people of Thailand! 