A Thai man handed a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence for constructing a homemade firearm from old shovels, scrap metal, and pipes said he made the weapon in order to hunt for food, according to the Taichung District Court Wednesday.

According to the verdict issued by the court, the man, a migrant worker from Thailand, was arrested on Sept. 7, 2021, after authorities found him shooting birds by an embankment in Taichung’s Da’an District.

Police then confiscated the man’s homemade firearm, as well as gunpowder, and metal pellets he was using as ammunition.

The verdict said that the worker had assembled the firearm from shovels, discarded metal pieces, and pipes in his dormitory.

In his defense, the man said he had been using the weapon to hunt for food, with his lawyer citing the nation’s “Controlling Guns, Ammunition and Knives Act,” which allows those from Taiwan’s Indigenous community to legally possess homemade hunting weapons.

However, the court rejected the man’s defense, stating that the precedent and analogy were not applicable as the man was from Thailand and not a member of Taiwan’s Indigenous population.

The man was sentenced to two years and six months in prison, and fined NT$20,000 (US$678) imprisonment for illegally constructing a deadly firearm.

The case may still be appealed, the court said.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel