Bangkok gun shop trades bullets for baguettes as Thai firearm ban bites

Shops in Bangkok’s historic gun district are being squeezed by increasingly tighter regulations in the wake of recent shootings

Five months ago, owner Warintorn Boonyachai decided to start baking bread to cover staff salaries, but would still like to see the gun-import ban lifted. “I do still have hope, because like I’ve said, selling guns is less tiring than selling bread,” said Warintorn, who also owns a baking school.

In the capital’s historic gun district, Thititorn Bupparamanee, president of the Firearms Traders Association of Thailand, said the suspension of permits would not fix the country’s gun violence problem.

“They are not fixing the problem at the right places, because if they did, there would be less crime,” he said, adding that the ban on the public purchasing legal guns through legal means may force some people to turn to the black market.