BANGKOK: The Interior Ministry has finished drafting a bill that will grant amnesty to those who surrender their illegal firearms, the secretary to the interior minister said on Monday (Feb 26).
Traisulee Traisoranakul, secretary to Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, said the minister has endorsed the bill and sent it to the Cabinet Secretariat.
Once the bill is added to the Cabinet agenda, it will be sent to the House of Representatives for deliberation and enacted once it gets the Cabinet nod, Traisulee added.
The bill seeks to reduce crimes committed with firearms or toy guns modified to fire live ammunition.
Traisulee said the government tasked the Interior Ministry with drafting the bill after it was found that 83% of violent crimes from 2016 to 2023 had been committed with illegal firearms, including objects modified as guns.
She said the authorities have learned that the sale of modified guns has been rising and is thus becoming difficult to wipe out. Hence, the government has decided to come up with an amnesty plan to encourage owners of illegal firearms to surrender them without any penalty, Traisulee said. - The Nation/ANN
