Revolvers and rifles are included, as are shotguns: there are currently around 669,000 privately owned firearms in Baden-Württemberg. This emerges from the figures for the national weapons register for the southwest published by the Federal Office of Administration. As of December 31, 2023, these are distributed among 114,492 people registered in Baden-Württemberg. Bavaria has the highest numbers, with 1.13 million weapons. Even in the most populous federal state, North Rhine-Westphalia, the numbers are significantly lower than in the Free State, with almost 854,000 weapons capable of firing.
The statistics also contain 395,439 so-called weapons permits that are assigned to people with an address in the southwest – this is around 7,411 more than at the end of 2022. These include weapons licenses and shooting permits. The database also shows a significant increase in small gun licenses: there are 102,933 (end of 2022) and 108,606 (end of 2023). Legally, one person can hold multiple permits.
Now that the weapons register database has been cleaned up, the 2023 numbers cannot currently be compared with the values given for 2022. For the end of 2022, around 4,200 more weapons are recorded in the statistics, and only around 600 more weapons are reported as gun owners than in 2023 (2022: 115,114).
Nationwide, statistics for the end of last year show 5.02 million weapons, 941,697 private gun owners and 2.95 million gun permits. The number of small gun licenses is given as 833,870.
Politically and socially, gun law regulations are always a point of contention and are always controversially discussed, for example after amok attacks. Last year, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) announced that in the future, psychological suitability should be checked when applying for a gun ownership card. Within the federal government, however, the FDP rejects tightening gun laws.
General key figures broken down by federal state. Weapons register for Baden-Württemberg
