Buying an airgun in HuaHin/Thailand

[Dahling]

Hawks? Erm, aren't they little songbirds...?

[OscarMike]

Oh I wish the PC brigade would climb back up their trees ... "don't hurt the poor defenseless soi dogs" ... "you're not allowed to fart in Thailand"

Also I doubt a pest control company will get rid of ferral mutts or shit streaming birds.

So a pellet gun is illegal for a falang, what if a Thai in the house has a legal license for it? I'll look into the other high powered (but legal) armament options - there are no neighbors for at least 100 meters so I don't see why everyone is up in arms about this, its my goddamn property.

[dtaai-maai]

Oh I wish the PC brigade would climb back up their trees ... "don't hurt the poor defenseless soi dogs" ... "you're not allowed to fart in Thailand"

Also I doubt a pest control company will get rid of ferral mutts or shit streaming birds.

So a pellet gun is illegal for a falang, what if a Thai in the house has a legal license for it? I'll look into the other high powered (but legal) armament options - there are no neighbors for at least 300 meters so I don't see why everyone is up in arms about this, its my goddamn property.

You're coming across as a bit of a twat, OscarMike. I don't see anyone up in arms, just some provocative and scornful remarks from the OP.
You asked for advice, and given some of the previous threads you've contributed to, you probably expected to stir up a bit of a fuss from the animal lovers. What you actually got was some very sensible advice from people who clearly know a lot more about getting along in Thailand than you do. Ignore it by all means, but don't come complaining on here when things go badly wrong.

[sateeb]

[pharvey]

Yep, I think that's a fair summary........

[Woody]

Top floor of Market Village, the shop that sells all the tacky knifes etc. I brought an "under the counter" Canon Super 737. I had a few beers at the time to be honest and it seemed like a neat little toy to mess around in the garden with. I paid 7000 Baht for it, which is about right if you google it. The Thai guy told me never to take it out of the house, so I am assuming i need some kind of license for it.

I have never used it since that first day and it just sits in the corner of my office gathering dust. I have nothing to use it on, to be honest... I brought a couple of targets when I got the gun and after half a dozen shots, I was bored. I have no intention of killing anything with it so It was a pointless drunken purchase really.

Bloody powerful though. If you pump the thing 7 or 8 times it is deadly, in the literal sense. I guess if an intruder came through the window at night it could come in handy but then again, by the time you have pumped it 8 times to get the thing in "deadly mode" your house would be cleared out. Either that, or you get a shot off and spend a couple of years in a Thai prison so again, totally bloody pointless having the thing really.

[STEVE G]

I don't know any personally, but I have seen many Thai men riding around on motorbikes with covered hawk cages here.

One of my Thai neighbours has huge great eagle-like thing (I don't know much about birds) with a curved beak that he trains behind the house.
The only problem I can see is that if you're trying to stop birds from defecating on your roof, that would be first thing that a pigeon would do on seeing this thing flying overhead!

[pharvey]

The only problem I can see is that if you're trying to stop birds from defecating on your roof, that would be first thing that a pigeon would do on seeing this thing flying overhead!

[Siani]

I fail to see what Thai law or "the locals" have to do with me carrying out some pest control on my own property - I won't be marching up and down the soi riddling peoples houses with bullets If I can't legally buy one I'll ask a Thai to do so - hell, I may even lend it to the neighbors.

Thanks to those that have made suggestions, the gas guns are out as you need to recharge them before use, BB guns are not powerful enough, and I wouldn't like to leave a crossbow bolt stuck in some ferral mutt so a rifle is the way to go for the range and accuracy (I have a big land plot).

Dannie Boy, where did you get your rifle? I will check out that shop near the BKK bank.

If you are intending to shoot at dogs and birds...which I hope you are not

I hope that you do not shoot yourself in the foot firat

[Super Joe]

So a pellet gun is illegal for a falang, what if a Thai in the house has a legal license for it? I'll look into the other high powered (but legal) armament options - there are no neighbors for at least 100 meters so I don't see why everyone is up in arms about this, its my goddamn property.

If you read my post I said 'for anyone else considering this' re: air rifles being classified the same as proper firearms, you've made it clear you're mind's made up. Excuse some of us for warning any newcomers reading this might want to know whether or not it could lead to fairly serious problems with the law. Maybe your neighbours might be up in arms though, you told us in the other thread it was their dogs... "most of the neighbors have packs of dogs. These dogs have taken over our un-built property"


There's an easy solution in putting a fence around your property but you dismissed that idea. What reaction did you expect asking some of the community to help you find something so you can put some .22 lead pellets in dogs that cross that line having failed to first check the land office marker-post numbers. Just incase any start getting found dead down the road or limp off back to these Thais to die a painful death, you might want to fine tune your justification a little

The buddhism is just a bullshit excuse. F*&%ing hypocrites. The Big Man likes dogs, which is why they are not killed here. To those that said 'build a fence' - would you go to all of that expense to keep rats out or would you spend a couple of hundred baht on poison? No, I shall not spend thousands on fencing.

That's the spirit Mike. And no, I wouldn't dream of building a house and putting a fence around the boundary. If it was a houseboat.

SJ

[VincentD]

Had a word with some Thai friends last night re firearms and licensing. These guys have licensed 9mm pistols (why I don't know, guess it's easier to wave it around in public than the other one) but they all agreed on one thing. An unlicensed weapon will land you a very long jail sentence. This includes air guns. (Woody, get rid of that thing!! I went to the website and that thing will land you in jail! Do it before the guy that sold it to you rats on you for part of the reward!)

The plastic pellet pistols, no problem, unless you're like a stupid ladyboy who recently held up three 7-11 outlets with one. He'll deffo be spending a lot of time behind bars keeping at least some of the other inmates happy (pun intended, but perhaps not in particularly good taste).

As for the pistols, guns,etc. I think they're too realistic looking for everyone's own good. The same Thai guys I mentioned above were littering the back yard the other day with plastic pellets, shooting at suspended ping pong balls (don't let your imagination run away with you now) and gas powered pistols. What did intrigue me, though, was an attachment that looked like a hi-tech rifle butt that the pistol fitted into, and had a laser-dot HUD built into it. The guy who owned it said it's great because only you can see the dot in the sights. Oh, and it's not a toy.

OM, I wouldn't even consider anything more than a catapult at this stage (mind you, they can do quite a lot of damage with the correct projectile) and maybe chain link fencing as it's not particularly expensive and you seem to be on a budget. If you're feeling particularly aggro, you could spend a wee bit more for razor wire...

Another thing to note. It's not your land, it's your girlfriend's. Don't get overly possessive over it. You'll never, ever, own it. Many farangs have been booted out of the house after they built it and getting an air rifle for yourself would only make it easier for this to happen sometime further down the line.

My two baht worth.

[barrys]

And no, I wouldn't dream of building a house and putting a fence around the boundary. If it was a houseboat.

SJ

Can sort you out with one of those quite easily if you want, SJ

[Super Joe]

Another thing to note. It's not your land, it's your girlfriend's. Don't get overly possessive over it. You'll never, ever, own it.

So given this, IF, hypothetically speaking of course, the dogs had genuine Thai I.D. cards would they be more likely to have....

SJ

[VincentD]

So given this, IF, hypothetically speaking of course, the dogs had genuine Thai I.D. cards would they be more likely to have....

Much, much closer to the truth than you think, SJ. The latest dog, acquired from the animal shelter at Mahidol University, has an implanted microchip ID...

Hello, Big Brother.

[Siani]

[quote="OscarMike"]The buddhism is just a bullshit excuse. F*&%ing hypocrites. The Big Man likes dogs, which is why they are not killed here. To those that said 'build a fence' - would you go to all of that expense to keep rats out or would you spend a couple of hundred baht on poison? No, I shall not spend thousands on fencing.

I do not think that it is big of a man to random shoot at Dogs Only a small man with no brain would do this
A sensible man would build a fence to keep unwanted visitors out. Build a moat, do anything but shoot at them. Without a fence you may as well put up a notice "No dogs please!"...because without one it will not work...they cannot read! You cannot shoot your way out of this problem..you must have known the soi dogs were in Thailand...why go to a place where you have to poison and shoot everything, it baffles me
There are going to be a lot of dogs running around in agony with lead shot in their backsides, it will create more problems, disease and vermin.
Please think before you turn into Billy the Kid