Thailand’s gun laws are strict.
This is a short answer for gun laws in Thailand.
1. Firearm License In Thailand: You need to get License For Buy Gun aka. P-3 license (ป.3) and License For Own Gun aka. P-4 (ป.4) to buy and own gun in Thailand and Every Firearm must registry to Government office in your local area. You must do a lot of paper works and pass requirements like background check, metal illness check, show your address, show money in your bank account because homeless and unemployed people can’t own gun, pass gun safety class before you can obtain P-3 and P-4 license.
*Own gun in Thailand, Limit to THAI CITIZENSHIP ONLY. but It’s not hard to own guns in Thailand if you’re Thai citizen, have money, and clean background.
2. Valid Reasons To Own Gun In Thailand: Self-Defense, Shooting Sport, Hunting, Collect are valid reasons to own guns in Thailand.
3. How Many Gun You Can Own In Thailand: You can own many guns as you wish without limit but “it’s one license per one gun” which mean you have to repeats the whole process again and again if you want to buy another gun.
*Except, Firearm safety class it’s require just once.
4. Legal Firearms Price In Thailand: Legal gun, Magazine, Firearm parts, and Ammunition in Thailand very expensive because of
- Taxes on firearms around 200%-300%
- De-Facto ban on gun shop No new gun dealer license. (If you want to open new gun shop then you need to buy 4th or 5th hand license from retried gun shop owner.)
- Quota that limit gun shop can import only 80 firearms per year (30 for handguns, 50 for long-guns.)
It’s about supply & demand that make price of legal gun in Thailand rise though rooftop 90%-1000% depend on type of firearms.
5. Two Price System For Firearm in Thailand: We have 2 prices system “Government’s price” for government agents, military, law enforcement and “Civilian’s price” for normal citizen Government’s price always CHEAPER than civilian’s price. Another great information from Paul Viriyapanthu “Thai police also get to buy new guns I think every two years, and sell their old ones. So buying from a Police Officer is another (legal) means to get a gun at a cheaper rate (because they don’t pay civilian prices).”
6. Who Passed Gun Control Bills In Thailand: Most gun of control bills in Thailand passed by Military government. (Thailand have military coup for 13 times since Thailand establish Democracy.)
7. How Thailand Regulate Firearms: Gun laws in Thailand regulate firearms based on only 4 things like
- Function: Semi-Auto, Bolt-Action, Lever-Action, etc.
- Barrel type: Smoothbore-Barrel, Rifling-Barrel.
- Barrel length: Barrel length that longer than 7 inches then it’s consider as long-gun.
- Caliber: Handgun caliber must not larger than .44 Magnum, Rifle caliber must not larger than .460 Styer.
As you can see, We don’t have idiotic laws like Assault Weapon Ban that ban semi-auto firearms based on cosmetic features or named.
8. Magazine Limit Laws in Thailand: We have the law that limit magazine capacity to 20 rounds for center-fire cartridge only. but it’s virtue signalling. Which is it’s not enforce. So, civilian can buy a 30 rounds Glock magazine from gun shop and use their mags on their Kriss SBR or Glock pistol legally.
9. Conceal Carry Permit In Thailand: Conceal Carry Firearm permit aka. P-12 (ป.12) for rich people, VIPs, celebrity, and bodyguard only. It’s impossible for normal civilian to get CCF permit.
10. Replica Gun, Blank Gun, And Airsoft Gun In Thailand: You don’t need license to buy Replica gun, Blank gun, and Airsoft gun because they’re consider as toys. Except, Airgun that require firearm license.
11. Prohibited Gun And Device ban from Civilian use in Thailand:
- Semi-Auto Rifle Center-Fire.
- Manual-Action Rifle Centerfire with caliber larger than .460 Styer.
- Semi-Auto Handgun, Revolver with caliber larger than .44 Magnum.
- Any Full-Auto Firearms.
- Silencer/Suppressor.
- Paper Spray.
12. Legal Gun For Civilian In Thailand. (Exchange rate 1 USD = 30–32 THB)
- Handguns: Pocket handgun/Revolver, Compact, Full size handgun, and carbine kits like Micro-Roni legal for civilian in Thailand but caliber must not bigger than .44 magnum and barrel not longer than 17.78 cm or 7 inches. (In Thailand, Handgun very expensive and it’s price rise around 600%-800%.)
Examples: Legal handgun for civilian in Thailand.
1. Glock-17 Gen 5, Semi-Auto Pistol use 9x19 with 4.49 inches barrel.
Civilian’s price: $2,500-$3,000 or 80,000-90,000 THB.
2. Kriss Vector V SBR, Semi-Auto use .45 ACP with 5.5 inches barrel.
Civilian’s price: $7,000~ or 223,000 THB~.
3. SP-5K (MP-5K clone), Semi-Auto use 9x19 with 5.5 inch barrel.
Civilian’s price: $6,200~ or 197,000 THB~.
- Shotguns: Semi-auto, Pump-action, etc. legal for civilian except fully-auto shotgun that ban for civilian, Shotgun laws in Thailand have NO limit barrel length or magazine capacity. So, Short Barrel/Saw-off shotgun and drum mags legal for civilian. (Shotgun very cheap in Thailand, Price will rise only %90–%300. It’s most affordable gun for civilian in Thailand.)
Examples: Legal shotgun for civilian in Thailand.
1. Rem. M870 Tactical, Pump-Action Shotgun use 12ga with 18 inches barrel.
Civilian’s price: $1,200 or 38,000 THB.
2. Derya MK-12, Semi-Auto Shotgun use 12ga with 18 inches barrel.
Civilian’s price: $1,770 or 56,000 THB.
3. Saiga-12, Semi-Auto Shotgun use 12ga with 8 inches barrel.
Civilian’s price: $2,500 or 80,000 THB.
- Rimfire-Rifles: They’re very cheap as same as shotgun and You can own almost every type of Rimfire-rifle like semi-auto, bolt-action, etc. except fully-auto rimfire-rifle that illegal for civilian. No magazine capacity limit and short barrel also legal. (Price of rimfire rifle in Thailand have same rate as shotgun around 90%-300% depend on models and function.)
1. Ruger 10/22 Synthetic, Semi-Auto Rimfire use .22lr with 16 inches barrel.
Civilian’s price: $1,100–$1,260 or 35,000–40,000 THB.
2. CMMG AR-15 .22lr, Semi-Auto Rimfire use .22lr with 16 inches barrel.
Civilian’s price: $1,890–$2,000 or 58,000–63,000 THB.
3. CZ455 American, Bolt-Action Rimfire use .22lr with 20.5 inches barrel.
Civilian’s price: $1,000 or 32,000 THB.
- Centerfire-Rifles: Centerfire-rifle very expensive in Thailand as same as Handgun. In Thailand, Semi-Auto Rifle/Full-Auto Rifle Centerfire and manual-action rifle that use caliber larger .460 Styer prohibited for civilian in Thailand. (Price will rise around 600%–1000%.)
1. Remington 700 Tactical, Bolt-Action Rifle use .308 with 24 inches barrel.
Civilian’s price: $6,300~ or 200,000 THB.
2. Troy PAR .223, Pump-Action Rifle use .223/5.56 with 16 inches barrel.
Civilian’s price: $5,350–$6,300 or 170,000–200,000 THB.
3. Win. M-1892 Carbine, Lever-Action Rifle use .357 with 20 inches barrel.
Civilian’s price: $2,500–$3,770 or 80,000–120,000 THB.
Great informative post. The only thing that I would add is that the Thai police also get to buy new guns I think every two years, and sell their old ones. So buying from a Police Officer is another (legal) means to get a gun at a cheaper rate (because they don’t pay civilian prices).
ขอบคุณครับสำหรับข้อมูลครัช, I will add to number 5.
So essentially they almost have a worse version of the American Assault Weapons Ban. Features don’t matter when any semi-automatic rifle shooting anything larger than a .22 Long Rifle is banned altogether.
I’m very jealous Americans, You can own Semi-auto rifle centerfire and other firearm with cheap-price.
