Thai ministers and political families disclose gun holdings

Thailand has temporarily halted new firearm purchase licences and new welfare-gun schemes as the government moves to overhaul gun controls following a series of violent incidents.

Registrars nationwide have been ordered to review outstanding Form P.3 purchase licences under which no firearm has yet been bought and report the figures to the Interior Ministry within 30 days.

People who have already purchased a firearm under a P.3 licence must apply for a Form P.4 licence to possess and use the weapon within 30 days of the Cabinet resolution or risk being treated as possessing an unlicensed firearm.

Prime Minister and Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has instructed Deputy Prime Minister Pakorn Nilprapunt, who oversees legal affairs, to proceed with drafting a new firearms law.

The Interior Ministry and Royal Thai Police have also been told to tighten controls involving P.3 purchase licences, P.4 possession-and-use licences and P.12 permits to carry firearms, with tougher penalties for unlawful possession and carrying in public among the issues under consideration.

The measures include suspending new welfare-gun schemes and P.3 purchase licences, reviewing outstanding permits and checking gun dealers’ records.

Recent shootings accelerate gun-control push

The government’s review follows several firearm incidents, including a school shooting involving a secondary-school student who used a family-owned gun and a separate case in which a student described as the son of a prominent northeastern politician allegedly used a firearm to strike a fellow student.

Pressure intensified after the August 10 shooting at the Nonthaburi Provincial Administrative Organisation. Former MP Chalong Riewrang was accused of shooting Pol Col Thongchai Yenprasert, a five-term former president of the Nonthaburi PAO and a longstanding associate of more than 30 years. Thongchai died from his injuries.

Narucha Kosacivilize, director-general of the Department of Provincial Administration (DOPA), subsequently signed an urgent instruction to provincial authorities requiring registrars nationwide to prepare for tighter controls covering firearm licensing, purchases, sales, possession and action against illegal weapons.

Dealers and outstanding licences face checks

Under the immediate measures, approval of new welfare-gun schemes and the issuance of P.3 purchase licences are suspended until the Cabinet decides otherwise.

Registrars must identify all outstanding P.3 licences where no firearm transaction has taken place and submit the results to the Interior Ministry within 30 days.

DOPA will also check firearm and ammunition sales recorded by every licensed gun dealer against P.3 licence figures.

Discrepancies are to be investigated and prosecuted where offences are found, while the Revenue Department will be asked to examine operators’ tax-payment records.

The department is separately seeking public comments on proposed amendments to the Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, Fireworks and Imitation Firearms Act.

The proposals would tighten criteria governing the purchase, possession and use of firearms and ammunition, permission to carry firearms and related safety measures.

Ministers and spouses disclose firearm holdings

The gun-control debate has also renewed attention on firearms listed in asset declarations filed by political office-holders with the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC).

Such declarations are transparency records and do not in themselves indicate wrongdoing.

Among serving ministers and their spouses identified in the records cited were:

• Prime Minister and Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul: his wife, Thananon Charnvirakul, declared one firearm valued at 50,000 baht.
• Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn: five firearms.
• Deputy Prime Minister Songsak Thongsri: four firearms, comprising a 9mm automatic firearm, two single-barrel 12-gauge shotguns and a 7.65mm Parabellum firearm.
• Minister attached to the Prime Minister’s Office Supamas Isarabhakdi: her spouse, Pol Col Lamphan Phanthanaprathet, declared four firearms worth a combined 420,000 baht.
• Minister attached to the Prime Minister’s Office Suksomrauy Wantaneeyakul: one firearm worth 65,000 baht, while her spouse declared 35 firearms worth 2.672 million baht.
• Defence Minister Lt Gen Adul Boonthamcharoen: two firearms worth 105,000 baht.
• Social Development and Human Security Minister Nikorn Soemklang: three firearms — a Glock pistol, a Sig Sauer pistol and a Derya shotgun — worth a combined 202,000 baht. His declared assets exceeded 8.6 million baht.
• Deputy Transport Minister Sanphet Bunyamanee: six licensed firearms worth 700,000 baht, within combined assets with his spouse exceeding 201 million baht.
• Deputy Digital Economy and Society Minister Boonthida Somchai: one firearm valued at 40,000 baht, within declared assets exceeding 45 million baht.
• Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suchart Chomklin: 27 firearms worth 2.65 million baht. An additional asset declaration filed with his spouse in 2023 put their assets at more than 760 million baht.
• Deputy Interior Minister Jeseth Thaiseth: two firearms acquired between 2019 and 2021 and valued at a combined 106,500 baht. His combined assets with his spouse exceeded 42.9 million baht.
• Justice Minister Pol Lt Gen Rutthapon Naowarat: 10 firearms valued at 768,000 baht, within declared assets exceeding 37 million baht.
• Culture Minister Sabida Thaised: her partner, Anan Pathan, declared three firearms and assets of 39.4 million baht. Their combined asset declaration exceeded 251 million baht.
• Education Minister Prasert Jantararuangtong: one five-round 12-gauge shotgun valued at 30,000 baht, within declared assets exceeding 51 million baht.

Former ministers also listed firearms

Asset declarations cited for former members of Anutin’s first administration included:

• Capt Thamanat Prompow, former deputy prime minister and agriculture minister: seven firearms valued at 450,000 baht. His December 12, 2025 post-office declaration, released on June 10, 2026, recorded family assets exceeding 1.1 billion baht.
• Vorapak Tanyawong, former deputy finance minister: three firearms, including Glock and revolver models. Combined assets with his spouse exceeded 1.4 billion baht.
• Akara Prompow, former social development and human security minister and younger brother of Thamanat: one firearm. An earlier 2024 declaration when he left office as Phayao PAO president recorded assets of 34.4 million baht.
• Amin Mayusoh, former deputy agriculture minister: three firearms — a 9mm Sig Sauer pistol, a .380 Smith pistol and a Derya shotgun — worth a combined 155,000 baht. Combined assets with his spouse exceeded 13 million baht.
• Nares Thamrongthippayakun, former deputy agriculture minister: three firearms comprising a 9mm semi-automatic, a .380 semi-automatic and a .22 rifle, worth a combined 230,000 baht. Combined assets with his spouse exceeded 186 million baht.
• Mallika Jirapunvanit, former deputy transport minister and now first deputy House speaker: six handguns acquired between 2009 and 2013, worth a combined 266,000 baht. Her declared assets totalled 47.3 million baht.
• Sakda Vicheansil, former deputy interior minister: one firearm acquired in 2002 and valued at 30,000 baht. His declaration on taking office in 2025 recorded assets exceeding 28 million baht.
• Ongart Wongprayoon, former deputy education minister: his spouse, Piyada Wongprayoon, declared one firearm acquired in 2021 and valued at 28,600 baht. Their combined assets exceeded 13 million baht.
• Worachot Sukonkhajorn, former deputy public health minister: three firearms in .45, .22 and 9mm calibres, acquired between 1997 and 2012 and worth a combined 113,000 baht. Combined assets with his spouse stood at 26 million baht.

Firearms disclosed by prominent political families

The records also covered figures from longstanding provincial political families.

• Former three-term MP Chalong Riewrang listed three firearms in his latest 2023 asset records. The declaration put his personal assets at 24 million baht and debts at more than 88.7 million baht.
• In Buri Ram, former education minister Pol Gen Permpoon Chidchob declared seven firearms, while former transport minister and former Bhumjaithai secretary-general Saksayam Chidchob declared three.
• For the Prissananantakul family in Ang Thong, no firearm appeared in Paradorn Prissananantakul’s asset declaration, while his younger brother Korrawee Prissananantakul declared three firearms valued at 120,000 baht.
• Former deputy interior minister Chada Thaised, a longstanding Uthai Thani politician, declared 23 firearms worth 1.3 million baht within assets exceeding 144 million baht.
• In Chachoengsao, Thitima Chaisaeng declared two firearms — a 9mm semi-automatic and a .357 revolver — worth 175,000 baht within assets exceeding 256 million baht. Her elder brother, former minister Chaturon Chaisang, declared one firearm acquired in 1986.
• Former MP, minister and deputy House speaker Suchart Tancharoen declared 11 firearms in a 2023 asset statement that put his assets at more than 52.5 million baht.
• Former Ubon Ratchathani MP Issara Somchai and his spouse declared six firearms worth a combined 233,000 baht: a single-barrel 12-gauge shotgun, two 9mm automatic pistols, a .22 rifle, a 9mm semi-automatic pistol and a .38 revolver.
• Phetchaburi PAO president Chaiya Angkinan declared 47 firearms worth a combined 950,000 baht, within combined assets with his spouse exceeding 43 million baht.
• In Chumphon, Supol Julsai, elder brother of former politician Chumpol “Lukmee” Julsai, declared six firearm items within combined assets with his spouse exceeding 53.3 million baht.

Public consultation on the proposed firearms-law amendments opened on August 12 and runs until September 10, 2026, through the Department of Provincial Administration’s central legal consultation system.