Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has signed a draft Executive Decree, exempting owners of illegal firearms, who surrender them to the authorities within a specific timeframe, from legal action.

The draft needs to be approved by the cabinet before it becomes enforceable.

Traisuree Traisoranakul, spokesperson for the Interior Ministry, said that 83% of criminal offences involving firearms, committed between 2016 and 2023, involved illegal weapons.

She also said that the number of blank-firing guns which have been modified to fire live ammunition has also increased and they are available online or through “normal” channels. She said that a crackdown on these illegal weapons alone is not sufficient. This has necessitated the issuance of the decree, to encourage the illegal gun-owners to surrender their weapons without fear of prosecution.