Swedish school shootings were seven women and three men, police say

Under current Swedish gun laws, anyone who does not have a criminal history over the age of 18 can apply for a shotgun, handgun, or semi-automatic rifle permit.

They have to justify the police why they need a gun. People over the age of 20 can apply for special distributions to own fully automatic weapons.

According to figures from Swedish broadcaster Svt, around 580,000 Swedes have arms licenses from a population of around 10.5 million.

A 2017 Switzerland survey found that there were approximately 2.3 million guns held by Swedish civilians. That’s about 23 guns per 100 people compared to 29 people in Norway and 120 people per 100 in the US.

Obtaining a hunting license in Sweden requires theory and practical testing. It has one in about 280,000 Swedes.

Sweden has relatively high levels of gun ownership and gun crime by European standards, but most weapons are legally owned and used for hunting.

Gun crime is primarily related to gangs, and gangs also use bombs to target each other.

Gun crimes that are not related to gangs are less common, with Tuesday’s attacks attacking the country’s first school shooting and its worst mass shootings. A total of four people died from stab wounds at two independent schools in 2015 and 2022.