Thailand suspends new gun licences after school shooting kills nine

Thailand has suspended the issuance of firearms licences following a school shooting in which a 14-year-old killed eight people before taking his own life.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said he had directed the interior ministry and police to stop issuing licences to possess, purchase and carry firearms. He also called for tighter controls and stronger penalties, according to The Guardian.

The teenager killed the grandparents who raised him at their home in Nonthaburi, north of Bangkok, on August 7 before going to his school. There, he killed five teachers and staff members and wounded a 12-year-old girl, who died in hospital on August 8. The attacker's death brought the total number of deaths, including him, to nine.

Investigators have not established a motive. Police said the boy had watched violent online videos and had previously taken an air gun to school. Officials also cited academic stress, while a classmate said he had been bullied. Those accounts have not been presented as a definitive explanation for the attack.

Police said the gun used in the killings belonged to the boy's grandfather. The case has renewed scrutiny of firearm access in Thailand, which has one of the region's highest rates of gun ownership and has experienced repeated mass shootings despite previous promises to tighten controls.

The licence suspension is the government's first major national policy response to the attack. Authorities have not yet specified how long the halt will remain in force or detailed any broader legislative timetable.