Section 376: Firing a gun in a town or village

Firm annotation

The elements of Section 376 are (1) firing a gun using an explosive charge, (2) without reasonable cause, (3) in a town, a village or a place where people are gathered. Three limits define it. What is punished is the discharge, not the possession or the carriage of the weapon: possession is governed by the Firearms Act, and carrying a weapon into a town, a village, a public way or an assembly is Section 371 of this Code. The words “using an explosive charge” confine the section to a firearm properly so called and exclude an air weapon. And the place is an element, so a shot fired in open country is outside the section however careless it was. “Without reasonable cause” leaves room for a lawful discharge in self-defence or a signal shot in a genuine emergency. The penalty is up to ten days, or a fine of up to 5,000 baht, or both, which is light because the section is a public-order provision aimed at the risk rather than at any harm: where the shot injures or kills, the offences against life and body apply and this section adds nothing to them. As a petty offence under Section 102 it carries the usual consequences: no intention need be proved under Section 104, an attempt and a supporter are not punished under Sections 105 and 106, and prescription is one year under Section 95(5). The current rate was set by Section 6 of the Penal Code Amendment Act (No. 22) B.E. 2558.