Foreigners will no longer be able to apply for gun licences after the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) endorsed a bill yesterday regulating firearms, ammunition and explosives including fireworks and traditional bang fai or homemade rockets.
Under the previous law, expats who live in the country were permitted to legally own and carry sidearms.
Gen Ood Buengbon, who chairs the NLA committee that vetted the bill, said foreigners who already have firearm licences would be permitted to keep and use them until they expire.
Lawmakers passed the bill with a vote of 201-1 with five abstentions. The bill, which amended the earlier 1947 law, will be enacted soon when it is published in the Royal Gazette. Unlike the previous law, the bill also lays down measures regulating gun silencers.
The new law also classifies electric darts, fireworks, talai (a kind of firework with a circular shape) and bang fai--a traditional bamboo rocket popular in the northeastern region that is used to herald the arrival of the rainy season -- as ammunition.
Those who threaten, or even frighten, people by claiming they carry firearms, ammunition or explosives can face jail terms of up to 20 years.
People who make hoax bomb calls can receive sentences of up to three years, a fine of up to 60,000 baht, or both. A first-time firearm licence now costs up to 500,000 baht, or 50,000 baht to renew.