Tightening gun control in Thailand requires dealing with entrenched interests


A 14-year-old Thai boy walked into the Siam Paragon mall on Oct 3 with a gun designed to fire blanks but modified for live ammunition. - AFP

BANGKOK (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): Talk about gun control flares up with every mass shooting in Thailand – then fades away. Officials muddy the waters by lumping the discussion with issues such as mental health, drug abuse and, in the case of Tuesday’s (Oct 3) tragedy in Bangkok, Internet use.

While the full circumstances of the shooting have yet to emerge, this much is clear: A 14-year-old Thai boy walked into the crowded Siam Paragon shopping mall with a gun that was designed to fire blanks but was modified for live ammunition, and left two people dead and five others wounded.

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