Retired General Thura Shwe Mann said, “The important thing is to stay alert and to be safe and need to be clever. So I survive up until today at this age with this alertness to my security and safety.”

Thura Shwe Mann said these words at a book release ceremony held in Nay Pyi Taw on June 14 for the book ‘Study and Findings on Why the Constitution Court Justices resigned from their posts in the tenure of first parliament.’

It was in reply to a question raised by a reporter, “What menace and intimidation compels you to bear a gun all the time?”

Thura Shwe Mann replied, “I bear this licensed gun wherever I go for my self-defence.”

Thura Shwe Mann who is also the retired Chairman of Union Parliament wrote, ‘I always put my licensed gun under the pillow when I went to bed’, in his first book ‘He, I and Myanmar Politics’.

In this book, he wrote, “My wife had already been in bed when I came into bedroom. I took my gun and put it under the pillow as usual. Then my wife said to me, ‘You don’t need to do it anymore as you have already lost in elections. Those who want you to be defeated are satisfied now. You have no more danger.”  

Thura Shwe Mann once said that he faced many dangerous situations which were worse than the so-called ‘midnight coup’ which happened at the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) Headquarters in Nay Pyi Taw on August 12, 2015.

But he said that he was at his home, not at the party HQ, on that fateful night. The next day, Thura Shwe Mann was removed from the post of chairman of the ruling party and he was replaced by Htay Oo in the press release issued by the party.

Under the existing Arms Law of Myanmar, all guns including air gun must be applied for license to bear these guns. Home Ministry, Gun License and Permit Scrutiny Committee may issue the required gun license by scrutinizing these applicants in accordance with laws, rules and regulations. Only after getting required gun license, one can bear the gun.

After finding huge cache of guns and ammunitions in the possession of Phyo Ko Ko Tint San, son of former union minister, in mid-October of last year in Yangon, Home Ministry issued a press statement which called for surrendering all illegal arms at the nearest military units, police stations and Township Police Chiefs Offices at the earliest date.