Although in vast swaths of the country people still love traditional hunting and shooting, gun ownership is not a right, as it is the US. But it seems it would have been difficult for the Munich gunman to obtain his gun legally without a major failing of German ownership regulations. More than 5.4 million guns are registered as being in private hands. The country has had a chequered modern history with gun legislation – after the lax regime of the 1930s, post-war German citizens were not allowed to privately own a gun at all until 1956. Gun ownership in Germany is the highest in the European Union and the fourth highest in the world, with more guns legally owned per capita than in Mexico, Russia or South Africa.

Source: The Guardian July 23, 2016 14:00 UTC