Following the mass shooting at Thepsirin Nonthaburi School, foreign media noted that Thailand is among the countries with the highest gun ownership rates in Southeast Asia. It was found that about 10 million firearms circulate in the country, equivalent to roughly one gun per seven people.
Gun ownership and gun-related violence are not new issues in Thailand. Over the past six years, the country has experienced multiple violent shootings and mass shootings, with children and youth among the victims.
One of the deadliest single-perpetrator mass shootings in modern Thai history occurred in 2022, when a former police officer used firearms and knives over about three hours in Nong Bua Lamphu Province. This attack resulted in 36 deaths, including 22 children who were attacked while sleeping inside a childcare center.
Earlier in 2020, a soldier carried out a mass shooting in Nakhon Ratchasima Province, killing 29 people. This remains one of Thailand's most severe mass shootings.
In 2023, a shooting occurred inside the Siam Paragon shopping mall in Bangkok, where a 14-year-old used a modified firearm to shoot people, resulting in two deaths and five injuries. This incident sparked widespread questions about children's and youths' access to firearms.
In July 2025, a shooting took place at a market in Bangkok, where the perpetrator shot security personnel and vendors, killing five people before shooting himself.
In February 2026, an 18-year-old shooter entered a school in Songkhla Province and fired at the school director and a female student. The director later died at the hospital.
These incidents highlight that although Thailand has relatively strict gun control laws, with unauthorized gun possession punishable by up to 10 years in prison, the country still has a high rate of civilian gun ownership compared to other Southeast Asian nations.
According to Small Arms Survey, based in Switzerland, in 2017 Thai people possessed approximately 10.3 million firearms, with only 6.2 million registered. This placed Thailand 13th worldwide in small arms ownership, with around 10 million guns circulating—about one firearm per seven people.
The problem lies not only in legislation but also in access to illegal firearms, unregistered guns, controls over buying and owning weapons, and loopholes that allow children and at-risk individuals to access firearms.
Mass shootings in educational institutions, especially those in recent years, have raised further questions about school security measures, risk signal monitoring, and preventing firearms from entering areas densely populated by children and youth.