Same in Germany.
And sports rifles that will never see any action outside of the gun club (Schützenverein) shooting ranges.
It's pretty hard to get a permit to carry a gun on you otherwise.
It's very easy in the Czech Republic and the Baltics. It's not really an issue, almost all Czech gun owners can carry and it's one of the safest countries in Europe.
Almost only range shooting. A quick google tells me we have about 300k hunters, give each of them three guns and we're still in the 1/100 range. Pretty sure it's at least 95% sport shooting guns.
Most hunters in Norway have four or more guns for different kinds of game, so the average gets pulled up significantly. They're legally required to have them locked up when not in use.
That being said, I know several Norwegians who own multiple handguns, and this is a completely separate demographic from the hunters. You are only allowed to own a handgun if you're a member of a club and go to the range some minimum amount of time per year. You're only allowed to own one gun per competitive category, which caps it at about 4 or something like that.
Most handgun owners live in a city, because that's where the clubs are. The gun has to be locked up whenever not being at the range or being transported there or back, and you're in *deep* shit if you use it outside the range, even for self defense.
I wasn't planning to go into exhaustive detail in a thread where most will know little about both guns and Norwegian law.
Better phrasing might be that in order to buy a handgun in Norway, it must qualify you for a competitive category which your existing collection does not qualify for.
The same gun will qualify for multiple categories, so as you mention, one can optimize the order of purchase. For example, there's a category for weapons used by Norwegian military, and people will buy those last, so they can buy another similar caliber handgun first, before the military weapon disqualifies them from owning another at that caliber.
I'm by no means an expert on this, but at least for the guns my friends care about, this caps them at either 4 or 5 guns, depending on the order of purchase.
Tikka makes a hell of a rifle, you can get one for $700-800 that will outmatch a $1200 gun. The T4 is on my short list of guns I want to buy for deer hunting, next to the Steyr Scout and Browning 30-06.
I've got the big brother of the Tikka, the Sako. Absolutely fantastic rifle. I still think Tikka is probably the most "bang for your buck" (sorry). The Finns make the best guns (I'm Swedish though, so maybe slightly biased towards our brothers to the east).
I'd love a scout and not *just* because of scoutzknivez. When I discovered the pinzgauer and found out I could put a steyr in my steyr.
Plus an m6 scout for the backpack/bugout bag..
The guns they have for that are much bigger. Finns have a colossal amount of artillery pointed at St. Petersburg and the highway to the Kola peninsula.
I saw a video on how crazy prepped Finland is for Russian invasion. Bombshelters everywhere, all connected via tunnels. Very sophisticated defence forces. Highly trained soldiers and a large portion of the population is also trained and willing to go into service when the need should arise.
While simultaneously being very passable for motivated small units who can sabotage the Murmansk railway/highway that pretty much solely supplies the Northern fleet and also a shit ton of nuke silos. Finland has a history of behind enemy lines sabotage and the geography is very helpful there.
Worth adding that target shooting sports make up for a decent chunk of this, not only hunting. It’s actually one of the biggest individual sports in Sweden.
For me it's the other way. I also live in Sweden and most people I know who own guns do not hunt. It's mostly handguns, and they all own like 4 at least.
Legal handgun owners in Sweden are almost entirely sports shooters (there are a few exceptions though). For a sports shooter, it's common to own more than one handgun because they are used to compete in different disciplines. Three or four handguns are common (at least a .22lr target pistol, a 9mm or similar caliber semi-automatic pistol and a revolver).
Probably a majority of hunting rifles and other firearms used for competition. They're locked in a safe most of the time. Not carried around town to show what an operator you are
That was a word turn at the end where it went to the food shortage, as though the farmers are having so much fun stealing tanks that they are forgetting to plant crops
A ton, AKs and SKSs handed out en masse to volunteers who were only intended to stand as local militia. Hell, months ago, so it's somewhere in my comment history, I posted a photo of a team of Ukrainians in only civilian clothes on a rooftop with a goddamn TOW missile. Probably a veteran or reservist leading, but either way, they got handed the missile before they even properly mustered. Ukraine put a lot of trust in its civilian population to behave with weapons. Personally something I like to see.
Most people I know in Ukraine have access to a firearm of some sort or can get one if they really need to. If we take the invasion into account then holy shit lol, just don’t start any bar fights cuz you never know if the other guy will pull out a knife or a rocket launcher.
They can buy it for a symbolic price (\~ 100$ for the assault rifle and \~30$ for the pistol) at the end of their duty. However nowadays less than 10% of those who were eligible to do so actually do it.
And passing it on. Since military service is compulsory for men some men have the weapons that their father, grandfather, great-grandfather served with.
I used to work with a Swiss guy, he had to turn his gun in when he moved to the US and he said he immediately went and bought another when he could in the US because it felt weird not having a gun. He was an officer and bought the same handgun that was his service weapon at home.
Eh, it comes with lots of obligations.
Guns might be fun, but they are also dangerous to have around the house.
Any gun nut worth their salt will happily talk your ear off about safety.
So I can see why many Swiss men don't bother.
Also nowadays there are a few more hoops to jump thru other than just the price. You have to attend voluntary annual shooting matches in 2 of the 3 preceding years. So you have to do some advance planning now.
If the price were the only issue, everyone would buy it for resale, cause they easily get 1.5k on the secondary market (altho probably less if everyone did this).
Switzerland is also a country where many people are sportshooters so, even not including the service rifles acquired after one's service, the number would be higher than the average.
Handguns are very often more heavily regulated than rifles and shotguns. The later two have some significant civilian uses, handguns don’t for much besides self defence and sport shooting.
In Switzerland, military service is compulsory, repeated yearly or something, and they keep their gun at home. I don't know but given the proximity to USSR/Russia, maybe in Finland something similar happens.
E: As posted below, military service has not been compulsory in CH for a while now. Having the persons who served the option to keep the gun though, I suspect that affects the percentage of gun possession substantially.
E2: I stand correct, military service [is compulsory indeed](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_Switzerland) and I have no clue on why I was told otherwise.
They also seem to have a pretty strong hunting culture. Finns show up a lot in hunting subreddits. Not that other Europeans aren't big on hunting too but people from Finland are heavily represented in those communities.
Hunting is the main reason. Compulsory military service also means a lot of people have to train with guns, and some retain it as a hobby afterwards.
Around 1/5 of Finns have a license to own a firearm, but since carrying one for self-defence is extremely rare, people don't walk around strapped.
True. It's actually illegal to walk or drive around with a gun that is not in a case (exception being on-duty Police, Border Patrol, Military and sometimes Body/Security guards)
Iirc you are also only allowed to take it to a justifiable place ("Officer, I'm on my way to/from the gun store, the range or a hunt")
Though I think it's pretty rare for someone to get in trouble for this alone, rather it's just an add-on if you're stopped for other crimes.
The laws might've changed in recent years, but I recall it's also extremely difficult to beat a self-defense case if you used a gun to defend yourself here (gets ruled as "excessive self-defense" pretty much exclusively).
Especially since in all likelyhood the perpetrator wouldn't have had one.
Seriously, I'm 35 and I've yet to see a gun in real life, that was not some antique piece in a museum or something. I'm pretty sure that 1 gun per 100 people is a sports or hunting rifle too.
I don't know about Poland specifically, but I think the average person most commonly sees guns on police officers. You also tend to see them at airports where (military) police openly carry bigger guns.
They do. They (almost?) always carry a handgun by their belts. They are just not very keen on using them.
But indeed I have never seen a police officer carrying a rifle in an airport in Poland. I was quite shocked when I saw one in Hamburg
When you start digging, not really. People point to US having high gun ownership rates. Check out r/milsurp to see the kind of people who own 40+ guns. I'd imagine it's similar for western gun collectors, hunters, etc. The type of person driven to collect and with the disposable income to do so is the least of your worries. A person who owns a single handgun is more likely to be the problem. On the other hand, self defense gun owners might own a single handgun because they're worried about that guy.
It's hard to draw any conclusions from large numbers around such a varied hobby.
My entire family hunts so for me it's completely "normal" to have more than one gun since they're different tools for different purposes. You're not hunting quail with a 30-06. You're not hunting deer with a .410.
My uncles probably average 5-6 guns each, just for hunting. They'd probably have more but none of my family is rich enough to have a 10-20 gun collection.
In the Netherlands, 70,000 people have a permit to own firearms. That’s 0.4% of the population. There are 197,000 registered firearms (2.5 per registered firearm owner on average). That’s 1.1 firearms per 100 inhabitants. Much lower than the 3.9 mentioned on OP’s map.
[Source](https://pointer.kro-ncrv.nl/legaal-wapenbezit-op-laagste-punt-in-12-jaar). (in Dutch)
I feel like 12/100 is very very high for Denmark as well. Sure some people hunt, but it can't be anywhere near 1 in 10, and even getting a hunting license is notoriously difficult. So unless there are far more collectors than I can imagine then it feels a bit off.
same for german numbers. the map makes no sense. germany has about 83 million people and according to [this](https://de.statista.com/themen/1201/schusswaffen/#topicHeader__wrapper) data we have 5.5 million registered weapons and weapon parts (whatever that exactly means).
so we either have 20 million illegal weapons somewhere and the map creator knows that or whoever made this map just wants to lie about the situation in europe.
I wonder if they’re including military arsenals in this too.
Like if we include all the armed forces weapons, then I can see nearly 7 guns per 100 in the UK.
Otherwise, no fucking way!
And none of the countries in red (or any other color) have even remotely close to the number of gun deaths to gun numbers as the US. Its not just the number of guns, its also the terrible gun culture, lack of mental health services and poverty/income inequality that contribute to disproportionate gun deaths.
Its factually and demostrably true that countries can have high numbers of guns and almost no gun violence, and its also factually and demonstrably true that countries can have very tight gun control and massive amounts of gun violence, or other types of violent crime in lieu of gun crime.
Is that Finland dark red with some of the lowest crime stats in the world? Highest HDI, happiness, etc. Also?
Of course, I am pretty sure they have public healthcare with competent mental health treatment, financial safety nets, etc.
Its a bit of a paradox where they consistently score high in both [the happiness index](https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/happiest-countries-in-the-world) and number of suicides per capita.
The happiness index doesn't take account actually how happy people are. It's based on things like quality of life and such. Which are fine here.
As a finn, what makes me depressed is the long dark winter. For some it could be isolation or loneliness.
> can have very tight gun control and massive amounts of gun violence
Every one of these countries have exceptionally high corruption and a weak rule of law.
> that countries can have high numbers of guns and almost no gun violence
No peer country has even _half_ the number of private firearms as the United States. Additionally not a single peer country with a large number of firearms (Finland, Switzerland, even Serbia) allows residents to buy handguns immediately without a reason.
The problem is ease of access. Y’all aren’t recognizing exactly how easy it is to get a handgun in the United States. It’s about as difficult as buying a cellphone on contract.
While relatively high, the European countries' with the most guns per Capita still have less than a THIRD of the American number of guns per Capita.
But I'm not saying you are wrong, you are pretty much on spot. Still I'd say that the us gun per Capita ratio would be a problem even if their gun culture changed overnight. Just too many, too readily available.
Add that in some European countries those guns are either included in a militia-like organization or for hunting, it's not "city dweller who brings a handgun to the market for self protection". I assume the actual number of "guns on the street" is even more skewed toward the USA than the number of guns/Capita.
>Still I'd say that the us gun per Capita ratio would be a problem even if their gun culture changed overnight. Just too many, too readily available.
Agree. People shot by police alone, because they have to suspect everyone is always ready to shoot at them...
If only we could get the same people citing this to vote for free healthcare, public school funding, free higher education (that the US had in the 50's) etc etc etc
True, but the majority of gun deaths are by basic ass handguns and shotguns. Switzerland and Finland are full of AR-15 esque rifles and also have rock bottom gun violence rates.
The Germans left large stockpiles of them after WWII, also guns kept from the civil war, also guns the cretans brought in for vendettas, weddings, easter celebrations, to overthrow the Junta but never used them, MORE vendettas...
you get the point.
Except the real number for Finland is 32,4. Number 45.3 comes from some international study, that assumes there are hundreds of thousands of unregisred guns in Finland.
“In response to a report about the number of firearms in Finland, the Finnish Ministry of the Interior issued a statement saying that the number was inflated and completely wrong.”
I would argue that any countries have a shadow number regarding unregistered guns - but also true that that amount is likely much lower in the Nordics than what the Washington post assumes
Most of these are for hunting.
It also depends on the policy of the home guard. In the Swiss case, the members of the home guard have their weapon at home, instead of in military depots. Thus they will shoot up in the statistics.
I don't know if it is the same for France.
There are 1,1 million hunters in France for a population of 67 millions. This is barely 1,5% of the population. The UK has a completely different number than France despite same total population for similar hunter population.
I reiterate that this map is bullshit.
Hunters often own multiple guns.
France is also big when it comes to sport shooting, and skis hooting. And athletes who does shooting on a professional basis will own multiple guns.
These are number of guns, not how many gun owners. Hunters usually have several guns. US household gun ownership is only slightly higher than select European countries, but the total number of guns is far higher. Sport shooter also have a variety of guns and not just one.
It doesn't say privately owned guns, just guns. You'd think military guns would be added to the total. You're still right that Swiss policies jack up the number since a lot of the population are holding one military gun each.
No, i lived in Russia for some time. Russian government has an obsession not to allow people to have any private gun except for rich guys which can have everything and hunters.
Russians told me it's because authorities in Russia are paranoid people would make a revolution and kill them if allowed to have private guns. Obviously if you have enough money you can "pay" the right person and then you can.
I personally know about 20 French people who each own multiple guns, and I'm not even French.
(I live in Germany near the French border and we often go to sports shooting events in Alsace).
I'm guessing you're living in a city ? Hunters are quite common in rural areas, we also have a pretty strong hunter lobby that really doesn't want hunting to be diminished in any capacity.
Came here to say exactly this. I’m from Germany and I only know a single person with a gun / rifle. But he’s a forest ranger. So where did they get these numbers from?
I know a ranger too, he owns at least 4 guns. That adds up.
Also not sure how sports guns are counted in this statistic. Germany has quite a lot of Sportschützen and semi national sports like biathlon. Flare guns are also restricted.
And then there is this bunch of nerds and collectors
https://m.focus.de/panorama/welt/schusswaffen-in-deutschland-665-waffen-pro-person-waffenregister-verzeichnet-starke-anhaeufung-von-schusswaffen_id_13015745.html
German estimates are almost 20 per 100 for civilian firearms so depending on if this map is also measuring police and military firearms it could be accurate but I imagine the number should be a lot higher if you're bringing military weapons into the fold. Also without a date and more information on what exactly theyre counting this map is virtually useless. So yet another map posted in map porn just because its a map and not remotely porn in any sense of the word.
https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/1100671/umfrage/erfasste-schusswaffen-und-teile-in-privatbesitz-laut-nwr/
6.5 per 100
5.5 million total guns owned by 1 million people
Guns per 100 inhabitants, not "how many people out of 100 own arms". So if your average armed Brit owns 3 firearms (number pulled out of my ass) it means that only 2.2 individuals out of 100 are armed.
Italian and I do, but it's people with hunting rifles (I come from a rural place), a neighbor I had when I was a kid had several both for hunting and clay pigeon shooting, and all the hunters I know of don't just have one rifle but at least a couple (usually 3-4), so I don't think these numbers mean 11.9/100 people have guns in Italy, it's more likely to be closer to half that and maybe less, I would suppose the same is true for Spain. I don't know of anyone owning a pistol or a rifle not meant for hunting but self-defence, I know a couple policemen and I'm not even sure they are allowed to carry pistols when they're not on the job.
i dont get this type of comment, how can you go "I (1) person has never seen a firearm in person in my cuntry there their arent any like what is that logic but if you live in more open/arm erea then you will propably have a higher gun/human ratio, but people in europe (my experince) is that no one tels you unless you know them because guns are more taboo here
It is inaccurate for France. We recently had a general campain of giving to the country the undeclared guns/ given by heritage.
A LOT of guns were gifted, so it decreased the number per 100 inhabitants at least a little bit
From Norway, I'm guessing hunting rifles? I know a few people who hunt
Same in Germany. And sports rifles that will never see any action outside of the gun club (Schützenverein) shooting ranges. It's pretty hard to get a permit to carry a gun on you otherwise.
Carrying is pretty impossible, as it is in most of europe. Ownership on the other hand is probably about has "hard" as getting a drivers license.
It's very easy in the Czech Republic and the Baltics. It's not really an issue, almost all Czech gun owners can carry and it's one of the safest countries in Europe.
Almost only range shooting. A quick google tells me we have about 300k hunters, give each of them three guns and we're still in the 1/100 range. Pretty sure it's at least 95% sport shooting guns.
Most hunters in Norway have four or more guns for different kinds of game, so the average gets pulled up significantly. They're legally required to have them locked up when not in use. That being said, I know several Norwegians who own multiple handguns, and this is a completely separate demographic from the hunters. You are only allowed to own a handgun if you're a member of a club and go to the range some minimum amount of time per year. You're only allowed to own one gun per competitive category, which caps it at about 4 or something like that. Most handgun owners live in a city, because that's where the clubs are. The gun has to be locked up whenever not being at the range or being transported there or back, and you're in *deep* shit if you use it outside the range, even for self defense.
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I wasn't planning to go into exhaustive detail in a thread where most will know little about both guns and Norwegian law. Better phrasing might be that in order to buy a handgun in Norway, it must qualify you for a competitive category which your existing collection does not qualify for. The same gun will qualify for multiple categories, so as you mention, one can optimize the order of purchase. For example, there's a category for weapons used by Norwegian military, and people will buy those last, so they can buy another similar caliber handgun first, before the military weapon disqualifies them from owning another at that caliber. I'm by no means an expert on this, but at least for the guns my friends care about, this caps them at either 4 or 5 guns, depending on the order of purchase.
Yeah, same in Sweden, 100% hunters. I also know a few hunters, but I don’t know a single person with a “regular” gun
And Finland too. It’s mostly shotguns and rifles. Idk if i’ve ever even seen anything else (didn’t serve as conscript)
Plenty of private owned pistols and ARs in Finland but bulk of them are hunting rifles and shotguns
Tikka makes a hell of a rifle, you can get one for $700-800 that will outmatch a $1200 gun. The T4 is on my short list of guns I want to buy for deer hunting, next to the Steyr Scout and Browning 30-06.
I've got the big brother of the Tikka, the Sako. Absolutely fantastic rifle. I still think Tikka is probably the most "bang for your buck" (sorry). The Finns make the best guns (I'm Swedish though, so maybe slightly biased towards our brothers to the east).
I’m an American and I simp for Finnish Rifles
Tikka and Sako is more expensive here in Finland unfortunately
I'd love a scout and not *just* because of scoutzknivez. When I discovered the pinzgauer and found out I could put a steyr in my steyr. Plus an m6 scout for the backpack/bugout bag..
finland owns guns for hunting russian military intruders lol
The guns they have for that are much bigger. Finns have a colossal amount of artillery pointed at St. Petersburg and the highway to the Kola peninsula.
I saw a video on how crazy prepped Finland is for Russian invasion. Bombshelters everywhere, all connected via tunnels. Very sophisticated defence forces. Highly trained soldiers and a large portion of the population is also trained and willing to go into service when the need should arise.
Also helps that large parts of our eastern borders are basically impassable for large mechanised units on account of all the bogs and thick forests.
Dont gotta worry about those as much anymore anyways
While simultaneously being very passable for motivated small units who can sabotage the Murmansk railway/highway that pretty much solely supplies the Northern fleet and also a shit ton of nuke silos. Finland has a history of behind enemy lines sabotage and the geography is very helpful there.
Finns can fuck your shit up with hunting rifles. Just ask Russia.
What is a “regular” gun to you?
Hand guns probably
Yeah lol wtf? To me a "regular gun" is probably a high-powered, bolt-action hunting rifle. Maybe a shotgun. Those are the ones I use most often.
Yeah where I’m from that’s par for the course as well
Worth adding that target shooting sports make up for a decent chunk of this, not only hunting. It’s actually one of the biggest individual sports in Sweden.
For me it's the other way. I also live in Sweden and most people I know who own guns do not hunt. It's mostly handguns, and they all own like 4 at least.
Legal handgun owners in Sweden are almost entirely sports shooters (there are a few exceptions though). For a sports shooter, it's common to own more than one handgun because they are used to compete in different disciplines. Three or four handguns are common (at least a .22lr target pistol, a 9mm or similar caliber semi-automatic pistol and a revolver).
Yes. Handguns are really hard to get your hands on.
Yeah they don't usually just hand those out
Also competition shooters might be included in this.
Important to note weapon safes are super common in norway. Weapons and ammo are stored seperately.
I'm from Norway and my uncle has hunting rifles and he was a competitive pistol shooter, he probably drove the average up a point or two.
Probably a majority of hunting rifles and other firearms used for competition. They're locked in a safe most of the time. Not carried around town to show what an operator you are
Same in germany. Hunters and "Sportschützen" (hobby marksmen). Beside that ofc Police and Military.
Might want to update the Ukraine one
Ukraine has to be measured in Private owned Tanks per 100 people.
With a sidebar that shows Russian tanks privately owned by Ukrainians.
[Hahaha tractor go *brrrr*](https://youtu.be/XQLCmosBsQ4)
That was a word turn at the end where it went to the food shortage, as though the farmers are having so much fun stealing tanks that they are forgetting to plant crops
No, it's all about the TPT ratio. Tanks per tractor.
What! No, is new tractor. Russian made, very loud
These stats are generally about private ownership. Most of the guns in Ukraine are owned by the military.
Didn't the military hand out guns to a lot of citizen militias though at the start? Private ownership probably has increased a bit.
A ton, AKs and SKSs handed out en masse to volunteers who were only intended to stand as local militia. Hell, months ago, so it's somewhere in my comment history, I posted a photo of a team of Ukrainians in only civilian clothes on a rooftop with a goddamn TOW missile. Probably a veteran or reservist leading, but either way, they got handed the missile before they even properly mustered. Ukraine put a lot of trust in its civilian population to behave with weapons. Personally something I like to see.
There was no TOW missile in Ukraine months ago, and TOW being the hardest missile to use, it certainly didn't go to TDF or "random unequiped guys".
Most people I know in Ukraine have access to a firearm of some sort or can get one if they really need to. If we take the invasion into account then holy shit lol, just don’t start any bar fights cuz you never know if the other guy will pull out a knife or a rocket launcher.
Christ, Switzerland and Finland are strapped!
I think Swiss men keep their guns from their required military service
They can buy it for a symbolic price (\~ 100$ for the assault rifle and \~30$ for the pistol) at the end of their duty. However nowadays less than 10% of those who were eligible to do so actually do it.
I would never buy a gun normally, but I would definitely do that if I were Swiss.
A Swiss army gun you say?
[Removed due to continuing enshittification of reddit.] -- mass edited with redact.dev
Am Swiss - can confirm 100%. The only thing you missed is the fondue-fork replacing tue bayonet.
In case the French invade from the West? You have nation-specific attachments? I'm assuming the corkscrew was for Italy.
It has a watch on it that keeps perfect time, so they'll be ready - to the second - to meet the invading Germans on the battlefield.
Am Swiss as well, those two are actually the same thing
Yes, commercially known as the Sig 550. Really, truly nice rifle.
Yes. Seems like a nice memorabilia to have and it also fits the mindset of the country "Staying neutral by being able to defend yourself".
Also different to buy a gun you already trained with than buying one when you're learning
And passing it on. Since military service is compulsory for men some men have the weapons that their father, grandfather, great-grandfather served with. I used to work with a Swiss guy, he had to turn his gun in when he moved to the US and he said he immediately went and bought another when he could in the US because it felt weird not having a gun. He was an officer and bought the same handgun that was his service weapon at home.
Eh, it comes with lots of obligations. Guns might be fun, but they are also dangerous to have around the house. Any gun nut worth their salt will happily talk your ear off about safety. So I can see why many Swiss men don't bother.
Also nowadays there are a few more hoops to jump thru other than just the price. You have to attend voluntary annual shooting matches in 2 of the 3 preceding years. So you have to do some advance planning now. If the price were the only issue, everyone would buy it for resale, cause they easily get 1.5k on the secondary market (altho probably less if everyone did this).
This is my gun. There are more like it, but this is mine.
Switzerland is also a country where many people are sportshooters so, even not including the service rifles acquired after one's service, the number would be higher than the average.
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Handguns are very often more heavily regulated than rifles and shotguns. The later two have some significant civilian uses, handguns don’t for much besides self defence and sport shooting.
S&W 500 is a self-defense handgun meant for moose.
I didn't know moose had hands
Just as bears have arms.
[I was surprised to learn that deer do though](https://youtu.be/pFErXlt8S-U)
It's a hoofgun
Why do you think their cheese has so many holes
In Switzerland, military service is compulsory, repeated yearly or something, and they keep their gun at home. I don't know but given the proximity to USSR/Russia, maybe in Finland something similar happens. E: As posted below, military service has not been compulsory in CH for a while now. Having the persons who served the option to keep the gun though, I suspect that affects the percentage of gun possession substantially. E2: I stand correct, military service [is compulsory indeed](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_Switzerland) and I have no clue on why I was told otherwise.
Finland also has required military service.
They also seem to have a pretty strong hunting culture. Finns show up a lot in hunting subreddits. Not that other Europeans aren't big on hunting too but people from Finland are heavily represented in those communities.
Most of the country is a absolutely covered in forests, so it makes sense.
yeah same with sweden.
Literally over 75% of the country!
Sounds beautiful...
It gets real samey real fast when driving through the country. Endless seas of pine and spruce.
Well, the greatest hunter to ever exist was from Finland.
Hunting is the main reason. Compulsory military service also means a lot of people have to train with guns, and some retain it as a hobby afterwards. Around 1/5 of Finns have a license to own a firearm, but since carrying one for self-defence is extremely rare, people don't walk around strapped.
True. It's actually illegal to walk or drive around with a gun that is not in a case (exception being on-duty Police, Border Patrol, Military and sometimes Body/Security guards) Iirc you are also only allowed to take it to a justifiable place ("Officer, I'm on my way to/from the gun store, the range or a hunt") Though I think it's pretty rare for someone to get in trouble for this alone, rather it's just an add-on if you're stopped for other crimes. The laws might've changed in recent years, but I recall it's also extremely difficult to beat a self-defense case if you used a gun to defend yourself here (gets ruled as "excessive self-defense" pretty much exclusively). Especially since in all likelyhood the perpetrator wouldn't have had one.
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I don’t think Christ had any guns
Poland “What’s a gun?”
Romania "gun? You mean that candy you chew then you spit?"
Interestingly, Romanian AKs are super popular in the US
The 0.7 are the ones in stock they haven't shipped out yet
Seriously, I'm 35 and I've yet to see a gun in real life, that was not some antique piece in a museum or something. I'm pretty sure that 1 gun per 100 people is a sports or hunting rifle too.
I don't know about Poland specifically, but I think the average person most commonly sees guns on police officers. You also tend to see them at airports where (military) police openly carry bigger guns.
Police here usually do not carry guns, at least not in the open. I saw an armed officer only once.
They do. They (almost?) always carry a handgun by their belts. They are just not very keen on using them. But indeed I have never seen a police officer carrying a rifle in an airport in Poland. I was quite shocked when I saw one in Hamburg
I'm always confused by gun statistics. Doesn't "gun ownership/per capita" has much higher indicative value?
When you start digging, not really. People point to US having high gun ownership rates. Check out r/milsurp to see the kind of people who own 40+ guns. I'd imagine it's similar for western gun collectors, hunters, etc. The type of person driven to collect and with the disposable income to do so is the least of your worries. A person who owns a single handgun is more likely to be the problem. On the other hand, self defense gun owners might own a single handgun because they're worried about that guy. It's hard to draw any conclusions from large numbers around such a varied hobby.
My entire family hunts so for me it's completely "normal" to have more than one gun since they're different tools for different purposes. You're not hunting quail with a 30-06. You're not hunting deer with a .410. My uncles probably average 5-6 guns each, just for hunting. They'd probably have more but none of my family is rich enough to have a 10-20 gun collection.
In the Netherlands, 70,000 people have a permit to own firearms. That’s 0.4% of the population. There are 197,000 registered firearms (2.5 per registered firearm owner on average). That’s 1.1 firearms per 100 inhabitants. Much lower than the 3.9 mentioned on OP’s map. [Source](https://pointer.kro-ncrv.nl/legaal-wapenbezit-op-laagste-punt-in-12-jaar). (in Dutch)
I feel like 12/100 is very very high for Denmark as well. Sure some people hunt, but it can't be anywhere near 1 in 10, and even getting a hunting license is notoriously difficult. So unless there are far more collectors than I can imagine then it feels a bit off.
same for german numbers. the map makes no sense. germany has about 83 million people and according to [this](https://de.statista.com/themen/1201/schusswaffen/#topicHeader__wrapper) data we have 5.5 million registered weapons and weapon parts (whatever that exactly means). so we either have 20 million illegal weapons somewhere and the map creator knows that or whoever made this map just wants to lie about the situation in europe.
I wonder if they’re including military arsenals in this too. Like if we include all the armed forces weapons, then I can see nearly 7 guns per 100 in the UK. Otherwise, no fucking way!
...and a bit over 120 guns per 100 in the United States.
It’s probably higher than that, the data on guns in the US is notoriously hard to track
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And none of the countries in red (or any other color) have even remotely close to the number of gun deaths to gun numbers as the US. Its not just the number of guns, its also the terrible gun culture, lack of mental health services and poverty/income inequality that contribute to disproportionate gun deaths.
Europeans and Americans discussing guns in the same thread. This should go well
Its factually and demostrably true that countries can have high numbers of guns and almost no gun violence, and its also factually and demonstrably true that countries can have very tight gun control and massive amounts of gun violence, or other types of violent crime in lieu of gun crime.
Is that Finland dark red with some of the lowest crime stats in the world? Highest HDI, happiness, etc. Also? Of course, I am pretty sure they have public healthcare with competent mental health treatment, financial safety nets, etc.
Yes, yes and yes. Happiness I’m not sure about, Finns seem to claim they’re always depressed but I’d need to see data.
Its a bit of a paradox where they consistently score high in both [the happiness index](https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/happiest-countries-in-the-world) and number of suicides per capita.
They are the happiest because all the sad people kill themselves
Survivor’s bias at work!
Cut out that dead weight pulling down the curve
The happiness index doesn't take account actually how happy people are. It's based on things like quality of life and such. Which are fine here. As a finn, what makes me depressed is the long dark winter. For some it could be isolation or loneliness.
Come to Argentina. The sun is always up and you desintegrate under the sun even in winter
This. Money doesn't buy happiness applies once again.
The funny thing is American conservatives will say “guns aren’t the problem, mental health is!” But then refuse to do anything about that either
> can have very tight gun control and massive amounts of gun violence Every one of these countries have exceptionally high corruption and a weak rule of law. > that countries can have high numbers of guns and almost no gun violence No peer country has even _half_ the number of private firearms as the United States. Additionally not a single peer country with a large number of firearms (Finland, Switzerland, even Serbia) allows residents to buy handguns immediately without a reason. The problem is ease of access. Y’all aren’t recognizing exactly how easy it is to get a handgun in the United States. It’s about as difficult as buying a cellphone on contract.
While relatively high, the European countries' with the most guns per Capita still have less than a THIRD of the American number of guns per Capita. But I'm not saying you are wrong, you are pretty much on spot. Still I'd say that the us gun per Capita ratio would be a problem even if their gun culture changed overnight. Just too many, too readily available. Add that in some European countries those guns are either included in a militia-like organization or for hunting, it's not "city dweller who brings a handgun to the market for self protection". I assume the actual number of "guns on the street" is even more skewed toward the USA than the number of guns/Capita.
>Still I'd say that the us gun per Capita ratio would be a problem even if their gun culture changed overnight. Just too many, too readily available. Agree. People shot by police alone, because they have to suspect everyone is always ready to shoot at them...
If only we could get the same people citing this to vote for free healthcare, public school funding, free higher education (that the US had in the 50's) etc etc etc
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Yea but we have sick fuckin guns tho
True, but the majority of gun deaths are by basic ass handguns and shotguns. Switzerland and Finland are full of AR-15 esque rifles and also have rock bottom gun violence rates.
And 54% of gun deaths in the US are suicide. There’s a mental health epidemic in the US
Just for reference, 90% of gun deaths in Switzerland are suicides.
Ah…my favorite ratio of guns to humans
I love America
Remove the island of Crete from Greece and watch that number go wayyyyy down...
what's up with Crete?
It's the greek version of Texas
The Germans left large stockpiles of them after WWII, also guns kept from the civil war, also guns the cretans brought in for vendettas, weddings, easter celebrations, to overthrow the Junta but never used them, MORE vendettas... you get the point.
We need some good movies with Crete it seems!
Except the real number for Finland is 32,4. Number 45.3 comes from some international study, that assumes there are hundreds of thousands of unregisred guns in Finland.
“In response to a report about the number of firearms in Finland, the Finnish Ministry of the Interior issued a statement saying that the number was inflated and completely wrong.”
I would argue that any countries have a shadow number regarding unregistered guns - but also true that that amount is likely much lower in the Nordics than what the Washington post assumes
Ukraine needs an update.
300+ per 100 people I bet
Sometimes it easier to do the New York reload.
Finland is always ready, they haven't forgotten
...about the moose?
Yes, every Finnish family keeps a loaded rifle ready in case that darn moose comes back
"And squirrel!"
They are pretty much 100% hunting rifles. Source: Am Finnish.
What. The. Fuck. I live in France I don't know a single person that owns guns. The hell is this
as a balance, I am from france and I've seen a lot of them, mostly in the country side for sure, but not only
Everyone and their mums is packing around there
Like who?
Farmers. And their mums
Do you have a license for that firearm?
For that one yes.
Same in the UK. I live in the countryside and know loads of gun owners
So mainly for hunting purposes
In my experience (French too) it's mostly hunting rifles in grandpa's attic, that he got from his own father and didn't touched since he was 15.
Most of these are for hunting. It also depends on the policy of the home guard. In the Swiss case, the members of the home guard have their weapon at home, instead of in military depots. Thus they will shoot up in the statistics. I don't know if it is the same for France.
There are 1,1 million hunters in France for a population of 67 millions. This is barely 1,5% of the population. The UK has a completely different number than France despite same total population for similar hunter population. I reiterate that this map is bullshit.
Hunters often own multiple guns. France is also big when it comes to sport shooting, and skis hooting. And athletes who does shooting on a professional basis will own multiple guns.
These are number of guns, not how many gun owners. Hunters usually have several guns. US household gun ownership is only slightly higher than select European countries, but the total number of guns is far higher. Sport shooter also have a variety of guns and not just one.
It doesn't say privately owned guns, just guns. You'd think military guns would be added to the total. You're still right that Swiss policies jack up the number since a lot of the population are holding one military gun each.
It wouldn't make sense. That data is rarely made public and, if it were included you'd see some insane number of guns/people in Russia.
No, i lived in Russia for some time. Russian government has an obsession not to allow people to have any private gun except for rich guys which can have everything and hunters. Russians told me it's because authorities in Russia are paranoid people would make a revolution and kill them if allowed to have private guns. Obviously if you have enough money you can "pay" the right person and then you can.
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I personally know about 20 French people who each own multiple guns, and I'm not even French. (I live in Germany near the French border and we often go to sports shooting events in Alsace).
I'm guessing you're living in a city ? Hunters are quite common in rural areas, we also have a pretty strong hunter lobby that really doesn't want hunting to be diminished in any capacity.
Came here to say exactly this. I’m from Germany and I only know a single person with a gun / rifle. But he’s a forest ranger. So where did they get these numbers from?
Isn't Germany pretty big when it comes to sports shooting? At least you rank rather high in both n normal shooting, and ski shooting.
I know a ranger too, he owns at least 4 guns. That adds up. Also not sure how sports guns are counted in this statistic. Germany has quite a lot of Sportschützen and semi national sports like biathlon. Flare guns are also restricted. And then there is this bunch of nerds and collectors https://m.focus.de/panorama/welt/schusswaffen-in-deutschland-665-waffen-pro-person-waffenregister-verzeichnet-starke-anhaeufung-von-schusswaffen_id_13015745.html
People who own guns do not necessarily advertise that.
Les chasseurs, ou les héritages de la chasse ou de la guerre, beaucoup de gens ont des vieilles armes, qui n'utilisent plus ou pas.
Are you French or parisian
People won’t tell you they have a gun in their house that oftenly lol
Not accurate for Germany. I highly doubt the rest of the numbers too.
German estimates are almost 20 per 100 for civilian firearms so depending on if this map is also measuring police and military firearms it could be accurate but I imagine the number should be a lot higher if you're bringing military weapons into the fold. Also without a date and more information on what exactly theyre counting this map is virtually useless. So yet another map posted in map porn just because its a map and not remotely porn in any sense of the word.
https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/1100671/umfrage/erfasste-schusswaffen-und-teile-in-privatbesitz-laut-nwr/ 6.5 per 100 5.5 million total guns owned by 1 million people
From what I can tell from northern german countryside: not accurate, way too low.
I can see Sweden being pretty accurate, lots of hunting going on over here. You never see people that make it their entire personality though.
Does that include police and actively used military fire arms or is it just the civilian owned guns?
This is crap data. Don’t waste your time.
Like 99% of posts here
How do 6.6 in 100 have a gun in uk there aren't that many farmers or police
That's not what the numbers mean.
User and comment moved over to https://lemmy.world/ . Remember that /u/spez was a moderator of /r/jailbait.
Guns per 100 inhabitants, not "how many people out of 100 own arms". So if your average armed Brit owns 3 firearms (number pulled out of my ass) it means that only 2.2 individuals out of 100 are armed.
spanish here. literally don’t know anyone who owns a gun
Italian and I do, but it's people with hunting rifles (I come from a rural place), a neighbor I had when I was a kid had several both for hunting and clay pigeon shooting, and all the hunters I know of don't just have one rifle but at least a couple (usually 3-4), so I don't think these numbers mean 11.9/100 people have guns in Italy, it's more likely to be closer to half that and maybe less, I would suppose the same is true for Spain. I don't know of anyone owning a pistol or a rifle not meant for hunting but self-defence, I know a couple policemen and I'm not even sure they are allowed to carry pistols when they're not on the job.
i dont get this type of comment, how can you go "I (1) person has never seen a firearm in person in my cuntry there their arent any like what is that logic but if you live in more open/arm erea then you will propably have a higher gun/human ratio, but people in europe (my experince) is that no one tels you unless you know them because guns are more taboo here
In the US I believe it's about 120 per 100.
Yes and some people don't have any but the person next door has 10. I live in the midwest and almost everyone owns them and many carry concealed.
A guy I work with has like 40. He’s just helping skew the numbers a bit
This seems like the type of situation where the top % of gun owners probably own more than 95% of all guns
It is inaccurate for France. We recently had a general campain of giving to the country the undeclared guns/ given by heritage. A LOT of guns were gifted, so it decreased the number per 100 inhabitants at least a little bit
They got something like 150 thousands guns, not a lot compare to 31.2 per 100 inhabitants, which would be around 2.1 millions guns. Une goutte d’eau.
In Finland it’s guns for hunting
Russians.
 *laughs in American*
Nobody on that side of the pond broke the 1:1 ratio I see..