Bullets and bloodshed: why Thailand is struggling to tackle gun violence

On Monday morning, a former MP for Nonthaburi fired four rounds at a local official inside a car – then calmly strode away, the pistol tucked back into his belt.

Police Colonel Thongchai Yenprasert was shot over an alleged money dispute by 71-year-old Chalong Riewrang, a three-time lawmaker with deep political influence, who then called a television host to confess his alleged crime.

Thongchai, 71, was the 12th victim of gun killings in under three weeks in Nonthaburi alone, a small province of a quarter of a million people just outside Bangkok.

On July 21, a young man was gunned down by a masked gunman on a motorbike in Pak Kret. A week later, a former bank manager killed two relatives and injured four others in a bullet-strewn dispute over land.