Table of Content
My comment on the 2022 Thailand mass shooting incident
Table of Content
The incident: Link to Wiki. The incident is ranked at the second largest mass shooting in Thailand, following the Thammasat University massacre in Oct. 6th, 1976, which is coincidentally on the same date.
If this happens in U.S., it would be ranked at 3rd, exceeded by only Orlando gay nightclub shooting and Route 91 shooting.
I want to comment on the incident of a mass shooting happening recently (at the time of writing):
- There’re so many mentions of the drug problem in Thailand. I would like to say that it may contribute, but not be the primary cause, of the incident. Many countries around us have a drug problem to the same extent, but none of which recently has had a mass shooting.
- There was two MAJOR mass shooting in Thailand in ONLY 3 years. The last one is as deadly as the latest one. Both are conducted by officers in the defense profession. (I would like to count police in the defense force, too.) This is not coincidental. This emphasizes that the real problem is gun control among those officers. (Again, this is my personal opinion.)
- Even though not so relevant, I found that Thai criminal penalties are too low. Take the example of one officer who killed the doctor by riding a motorcycle beyond the speed limit: if he was in the U.S., he would take more than 10 years of jail time. But, as you know, he only received just 1 year. Shame, I would say. I don’t want to dishonor Thai law. There are many cases where Thai courts are doing justice, but some are beyond fucked up.
There is a debate, though, about the usefulness in criminalize drug crime to be a sentence-to-death. In Singapore, it is controversial among those who are against life execution. They have arguments, such as drug trafficking in Singapore not decreasing for years despite the harsh penalty. But if you think another way around, this penalty has been enacted since before 2000! If it is not decreasing in recent years, does it mean it has reached equilibrium? Who knows that if the law is less strict, will the problem be aggravated?
Back to the harshness of the law, I want to point out a very disturbing fact that Thailand is one of the countries which have the highest number of prisoners per capita. 350000 people that could be in the workforce are currently detained. If you following the news, there are so many crimes of which the penetrators are recently put out from prison. There is the reason for that: Thai prison cannot hold more prisonners anymore.
I want to conclude my comment with no offered solution. The situation is like the snake eating its own tail.
Improving Thailand education to solve all problem? Nah! We have been talking about these for years.
TL; DR: Gun control is important. More harsh criminal penalties, but can’t do that because Thai prison can’t hold more peoples anymore. Thailand Education 4.0 is a dream no one dare to dream.