Europe's gun culture rivals US
By Honor Mahony
The UK's Independent picks up on a report that Europe's gun culture is giving the US a serious run for its money.
It quotes figures from the Small Arms Survey which show that Europeans own a total of 67 million registered guns - a number, the survey argues, showing that some nations have developed a gun culture that bears comparison with the United States.
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"Contrary to the common assumption that Europeans are virtually unarmed, an estimated 84 million firearms are legally held in the 15 member states of the EU. Of these, 80 per cent - 67 million guns - are in civilian hands", the report states.
The Survey also shows that there are major differences between countries.
Germans are buying almost as many new firearms per capita as Americans.
Finland, with its strong hunting tradition, has the most legally registered guns in the EU at 39 per 100 people, the UK has 10 - one third of the German and French figures - and the Netherlands has two.
Gun laws are tightest in the UK, the Netherlands and Poland.
Aaron Karp, co-author of the report told the Independent: "Citizens of most European countries are more heavily armed than they realise, with an average of 17.4 guns per 100 people in the 15 EU countries alone."