A favourite argument of pro-gun advocates is that allowing the common citizen to carry arms is a deterrent to violent crime: criminals are less inclined to perpetrate on people who may be able to retaliate with firearms. Anti-gun advocates retort that an increased prevalence of firearms actually increases rates of violent crime, in particular shootings, by making both criminals and potential victims reckless and trigger-happy: maybe he has a gun, but then I do too---let's just do it.
Since the renewal of violence in southern Thailand in 2004, Thai government programmes arming civilian militias have led to a huge influx of firearms into the region. An accompanying increase in shootings in the region suggest that the anti-gun advocates' argument is closer to the mark of reality.
Of course, the chain of causation may run the other way round: a culture of violence, fueled by unresolved local squabbles and encouraged by recent militantism, creates a strong incentive for arms-traders and smugglers to bring firearms into southern Thailand. The government programmes were only the spark which unwittingly opened the floodgates for these firearms to flow in freely, driving the violence which may have previously lain latent.
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