cuchulainn
June 10, 2003, 10:27 PM
Some one needs to tell this guy about Canada.
from the Bankok Post
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/11Jun2003_news31.htmlFirearms bill needs more teeth
Kanjana Spindler
The cabinet has approved a bill which would grant an amnesty to those who turn in their illegal weapons to the authorities. The bill will be sent to parliament later this month when it convenes for an extraordinary session to debate next fiscal year's budget.
In principle this seems like a good idea. The motivation for this draft legislation stems from this government's latest crackdown campaign, this time against dark influence But in practice the bill will do little to solve Thailand's basic problem relating to guns.
We claim to be a Buddhist-oriented society. Anyone out early on the streets of towns and villages across the kingdom might agree as they watch silent files of saffron-robed monks collect their daily alms from people of all walks of life.
But while Thailand may give the appearance of being overwhelmingly Buddhist, the reality is quite different. We are a violent society that places little value on the so-called sanctity of life. How else can one explain the lack of public outrage at the huge list of unexplained deaths relating to the recent campaign against drugs?
It is not sufficient to say that the majority of people believe that these victims of extra-judicial murder deserved what they got. There are hundreds of grieving families who will testify that their loved ones had nothing to do with drugs. It's the same with road carnage.
But the worst aspect of our tolerance of violence within our society is our love-hate relationship with the gun. We might laugh in despair at the power of the gun lobby in America, but in recent days we have witnessed the pigeons coming home to roost with school shootings in our own backyard. The rule of law upcountry has long played second fiddle to the rule of power backed up by the rule of the gun.
The simple truth is that Thailand is awash with guns of all descriptions, both of the supposedly legal kind and of the illegal kind. This is not surprising. For decades we have been surrounded by neighbouring countries at war with themselves and each other. Weapons flood backwards and forwards across our mostly undemarcated borders. Add to this chaotic cross-border flow of weapons of all types and sizes the leaking armory of our own large and ill-disciplined armed forces, and you have an unlimited supply of illegal weapons and no idea of our nation's inventory of supposedly ``official'' weapons.
Does anybody honestly believe that the Royal Thai Army can account for every gun, grenade and bullet that has come under its control over the last three or four decades? And what about all those guns that have been handed out to various paramilitary and volunteer units over the years? The ones that regularly get stolen from village defence units?
So an amnesty for illegal firearms is just so much wallpaper. We need a National Gun Control Centre (NGCC) _ not under the control of the military _ which would act as the registration point for all guns in the country, including those belonging to the military. We need to draw a new baseline inventory if we are really serious about this issue.
Following the establishment of the NGCC, all licences for civilian-owned guns should be cancelled and the laws redrawn to prohibit virtually all civilian ownership of guns, except perhaps those for officially sanctioned sporting (not hunting) purposes. When these arrangements are in place then would be the time for the amnesty period during which people can turn in both illegal and formerly legal guns to the authorities. All of these guns should be publicly destroyed.
To the amnesty I would add a cash bounty as in incentive for people to turn in their pet hand grenades or M16s. If we can fund a bloated military machine, we certainly should be able to invest in soaking up the hoard of weapons that surround us. Buddhism for me is above all about non-violence. It's about time we got serious about keeping people alive.
- Kanjana Spindler is Assistant Editor, Editorial Pages, Bangkok Post
from the Bankok Post
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/11Jun2003_news31.htmlFirearms bill needs more teeth
Kanjana Spindler
The cabinet has approved a bill which would grant an amnesty to those who turn in their illegal weapons to the authorities. The bill will be sent to parliament later this month when it convenes for an extraordinary session to debate next fiscal year's budget.
In principle this seems like a good idea. The motivation for this draft legislation stems from this government's latest crackdown campaign, this time against dark influence But in practice the bill will do little to solve Thailand's basic problem relating to guns.
We claim to be a Buddhist-oriented society. Anyone out early on the streets of towns and villages across the kingdom might agree as they watch silent files of saffron-robed monks collect their daily alms from people of all walks of life.
But while Thailand may give the appearance of being overwhelmingly Buddhist, the reality is quite different. We are a violent society that places little value on the so-called sanctity of life. How else can one explain the lack of public outrage at the huge list of unexplained deaths relating to the recent campaign against drugs?
It is not sufficient to say that the majority of people believe that these victims of extra-judicial murder deserved what they got. There are hundreds of grieving families who will testify that their loved ones had nothing to do with drugs. It's the same with road carnage.
But the worst aspect of our tolerance of violence within our society is our love-hate relationship with the gun. We might laugh in despair at the power of the gun lobby in America, but in recent days we have witnessed the pigeons coming home to roost with school shootings in our own backyard. The rule of law upcountry has long played second fiddle to the rule of power backed up by the rule of the gun.
The simple truth is that Thailand is awash with guns of all descriptions, both of the supposedly legal kind and of the illegal kind. This is not surprising. For decades we have been surrounded by neighbouring countries at war with themselves and each other. Weapons flood backwards and forwards across our mostly undemarcated borders. Add to this chaotic cross-border flow of weapons of all types and sizes the leaking armory of our own large and ill-disciplined armed forces, and you have an unlimited supply of illegal weapons and no idea of our nation's inventory of supposedly ``official'' weapons.
Does anybody honestly believe that the Royal Thai Army can account for every gun, grenade and bullet that has come under its control over the last three or four decades? And what about all those guns that have been handed out to various paramilitary and volunteer units over the years? The ones that regularly get stolen from village defence units?
So an amnesty for illegal firearms is just so much wallpaper. We need a National Gun Control Centre (NGCC) _ not under the control of the military _ which would act as the registration point for all guns in the country, including those belonging to the military. We need to draw a new baseline inventory if we are really serious about this issue.
Following the establishment of the NGCC, all licences for civilian-owned guns should be cancelled and the laws redrawn to prohibit virtually all civilian ownership of guns, except perhaps those for officially sanctioned sporting (not hunting) purposes. When these arrangements are in place then would be the time for the amnesty period during which people can turn in both illegal and formerly legal guns to the authorities. All of these guns should be publicly destroyed.
To the amnesty I would add a cash bounty as in incentive for people to turn in their pet hand grenades or M16s. If we can fund a bloated military machine, we certainly should be able to invest in soaking up the hoard of weapons that surround us. Buddhism for me is above all about non-violence. It's about time we got serious about keeping people alive.
- Kanjana Spindler is Assistant Editor, Editorial Pages, Bangkok Post