Portugal, a country of 10.5 million people, has 1.5 registered firearms with 5,000 new licenses issue last year.
According to data from the Department of Arms and Explosives which comes under the Public Security Police, the vast majority of these licensed weapons are of the types used for shooting animals.
The PSP’s Hugo Palma said that most of the 4,792 permits issued to private individuals, related to hunting weapons.
In 2015, only 515 of the 4,792 new licenses were issued for the first time, with the remaining going to people who already owned weapons but an astonishing number of firearms were bought and sold in Portugal last year, 45,530 according to PSP records.
