News Forum - Can foreigners own guns in Thailand?

[Thaiger]

https://youtu.be/2qtN6QCqv0Y   This subject is explained and clarified by the head of the Firearms Business Operator Association of Thailand. Just so you know, the response may come as a shock to some people and will undoubtedly be welcome news to others. Find out more in this video!

The story Can foreigners own guns in Thailand? as seen on Thaiger News.

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[Rookiescot]

So as a foreigner you need to have a job in Thailand to own a gun.

Thats as far as I got in the video.

Most of us on here will reach the same point. 

[anarchofarmer]

I've had at least 2 offers turn up in my facebook feed over the past 3 months!

[L-Dogg]

Yes, you can own guns . I am in the process now of sorting thru my arsenal here in the US to figure out what I can legally own there. Most of my weapons qualify to be registered in Thailand, but I have some Class 3 stuff that they are not giving me a decision on. I have a few Full-Auto SBR's and also a few suppressors that I think are going to be a no go. I will leave them with my brother here in the US. But most I am allowed to bring I found out, and I was shocked myself.

[Janneman]

Wrong title. Should be:

Can foreigners legally own guns in Thailand?

Quite a few international criminals visit Thailand, sometimes resulting in liquidations. Those criminals own guns but not legally of course.

[TWS60]

Dabbled in this about 2013/14, and my admittedly fuzzy recollection is there was a government/ local provincial process for a Non-Thai / foreigner to obtain a legal firearm permit, but that path was closed sometime around 2016/17 with legislation requiring Thai citizenship - among other gun/ammo related issues.   Can find reference to it via a Google search.

The general consensus among the on-line farang brigade at the time was that the xenophobic Thai Government aren't keen on us farangs to begin with, or guns themselves as a matter of self-preservation given the country's track record for coups, insurrections and mass, sometimes violent, public uprisings.  

Lest we forget the events in and around that time frame.  The idea that the new Thai Gov in camouflage fatigues would happily and quite easily grant farangs a special, extra privilege like owning a firearm here, seemed as likely as them waking up one day and deciding all us mostly harmless old farts on long-stay Non-O visas were worthy of permanent residence permits/visas. 

TBH, nothing in this video left me with the idea that anything's changed.  I rather think the exuberant fellow with big ideas of importing several of his more modest firearms from Murica to Thailand, will be met with a dose of reality. 

And for what it's worth, many (me included) also feel whatever gun culture we had in us from our previous home country, ranging from hunting and a modest, sensible desire for home and self protection, to those with obsessive/compulsive fixations about guns and ammo at best, to mentally unhinged fever dreams at worst, have calmed down and moved on after living here in sunny old Thailand for a number of years.  

At some point you quit fretting and obsessing about stuff on the other side of the planet and for some reason, start putting ice cubes in your beer glass.