Never before has the number of licensed firearm owners increased by over 37 thousands in a single year. The highest previous growth took place in 2021, when almost 20 thousands people acquired new weapon permits.
Change in firearm permits numbers in Poland in 2014-2022
The same applies to the number of weapons in Polish hands — growing from less than 660 thousands in 2021 to over 760 in 2022. It’s a jump of nearly 102 thousand guns and the cause of significant shortages on the market, with shops selling basically everything they got.
The increased interest regarding firearms was primarily driven by the situation in Ukraine, and the transformation of creeping conflict into a full-scale war.
Change in the numbers of privately owned firearms in Poland in 2014-2022
In 2022, 154 new firearms permits were issued for personal protection, one for the protection of people or property, 4,081 firearms permits for hunting, 13,147 for sport purposes (twice as many as in 2021, when 6,806 were issued, 5,031 in 2020 , 4,822 in 2019, 5,172 in 2018), five for the purpose of historical reenactment, 19,862 firearms licenses for collectors’ purposes (this is a huge increase in comparison to previous years, in 2021 – 9233, in 2020 – 6941, in 2019 – 6181, in 2018 – 6522), eight for commemorative purpose, 141 instructor permits, and three for other purposes.
Change in number of collectors permits and weapons in 2014-2022. Growth in the last few years is enormous, going from 18 thousand permits to almost 60 thousands in five years
In total, in 2022, 286,751 gun permits were held (252,299 in 2021), of which 30,877 were for personal protection (31,419 in 2021), ten were for the protection of people or property (nine a year earlier), 134,765 hunting permits (132,501 in 2021), 58,784 for sport purposes (45,895 in 2021), 94 for historical reconstruction (86 last year), 59,240 collectors permits (39,529 in 2021), 1,730 for commemorative purposes (1738 earlier), 1,082 instructor permits (940 in 2021) and 169 for other purposes (182 last year).
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Change in number of sports permits and weapons in 2014-2022. The growth of people interested in sport shooting is noticeable
According to law enforcement statistics, Polish citizens own a total of 760,218 firearms, of which 35,441 (35,841 in 2021) are weapons kept for personal protection, 10 (no change since last year) for protecting people or property, 374,079 (356,595 in 2021) hunting weapons, 162,368 (123,076 in 2021) sport weapons, 361 (327 a year ago) for purpose of historical reenactment, 176,836 (132,982 in 2021) collector items, 2,542 (2,535 last year) commemorative, 8,425 (6,844 in 2021) weapons for training and 156 (down from 169 in 2021) last year) owned for other purposes.
Change in number of hunting permits and weapons in 2014-2022. The growth isn’t significant, revealing that the number of hunters remains more or less stable