MPs say happiness is a warm gun

POLITICS

More than a hundred MPs have applied to buy firearms and licences to carry them freely.

They say being armed will make them feel safer in the highly charged political environment.

The Provincial Administration Department has offered MPs the opportunity to buy guns and obtain a licence to carry it everywhere. The secretariat of the House of Representatives issued a letter to MPs with details of the offer.

MPs will be able to buy guns at special prices - about half the market price, a letter circulated to all MPs stated.

A further 4% discount is offered to those who choose to pay for their guns in cash. Those who do not favour a single payment will be allowed to pay on instalment from six months to one year with no interest charged.

The firearm licence is a renewable one-year permit.

The types of guns available include Smith & Wesson, SIG Sauer and Glock.

The privilege to carry firearms is normally given only to civil servants under the Interior Ministry such as police officers and Provincial Administration Department officers.

Puea Thai Party MP for Roi Et Sakda Khongphet, chairman of the lower house committee on House of Representatives affairs, said the committee asked the Provincial Administration Department to consider including MPs as part of the gun purchase privilege.

He said the reason proposed to the department was that politics was heating up and MPs needed guns to protect themselves.

The time leading up to pre-election campaigning usually was the most critical time for candidates who had won the past election as they were at the highest risk of being attacked, Mr Sakda said.

"More than a hundred guns have been ordered so far," he said.

Although several MPs in the coalition government have signed up for guns, most orders have come from opposition MPs who tend to feel more insecure about their lives, he said.

Unlike their government counterparts, opposition MPs have no personal military or police guards, Mr Sakda said.

Puea Thai MP for Udon Thani Anant Sriphan, who proposed the idea of allowing MPs to carry guns, said he wanted to have a firearm with him when travelling in rural areas because he would feel safer.

He said the price offered for the firearms was very cheap.

Democrat list MP Kraisak Choonhavan, however, said he saw no reason for MPs to carry firearms, which he described as a symbol of conflict and violence in society.

"If those MPs feel unsafe without a gun, how can ordinary people feel secure about their lives?" Mr Kraisak asked.