The Homemade Guns of Taiwan’s Indigenous Hunters

No one is allowed to own guns in Taiwan, with one exception: Indigenous hunters. But there’s a catch. Each hunter must make their own gun by hand. This leads to hunters using DIY guns of varying quality, often sorely lacking in safety. Guns made in factories are strictly banned. Indigenous hunter Talum Suqluman was charged in 2013 with using an illegal gun to hunt protected animals. In 2021, his case went before Taiwan’s highest court in an attempt to resolve the conflict between the right of Indigenous peoples to practice their hunting culture, and Taiwan’s near-total ban on civilian firearms. Many Indigenous activists rallied around Talum’s case, surfacing centuries-old tensions between the Han Chinese majority and Indigenous communities of the island.

Director, cinematographer, editor, and narrator • 2021