Hamburg Gunshop
© CC BY-SA 2.0 / Sten Dueland / Hamburg Gunshop
A German opinion poll has revealed that almost two-thirds of respondents carry a mace or a weapon to protect themselves from a possible assault. One-third admitted that "foreigners and refugees" are the groups of people they fear the most.

The past few years have seen a significant increase in the number of German citizens who have acquired weapons permits; in December 2017, more than 557,000 Germans obtained such a document, the news network Deutsche Welle reported.

Purchases of non-lethal gas pistols, stun guns, defensive blinding flashlights and gas spray are on the rise in Germany, where at least 23 percent of the population feel "very unsafe", according to a survey conducted by the German pollster Infratest dimap.

The survey cited nearly two-thirds of the respondents as saying that they had a mace or a weapon with them to protect themselves from a potential attack, while almost one-third pointed to "foreigners and refugees" when asked which groups of people they feared the most.


Comment: While that is a significant proportion, one wonder what the other two-thirds ascribe those feelings to.


German criminologist and lawyer Arthur Kreuzer has, meanwhile, warned that owning weapons does not guarantee a higher level of safety.

"In extreme psychological situations, many people resort to using guns and shoot themselves or others. If guns are not at hand, some spontaneous suicides or accidental killings can be avoided," he was quoted by Deutsche Welle as saying.

He stressed that it is the fear of crime as such that stands behind Germans feeling unsafe and that "crime is always a projection of social problems."

Germany struggles to cope with the ongoing migration crisis which prompted the authorities to spend a whopping 1.4 billion euros on the reception, registration and accommodation of those wishing to obtain refugee status in the country, plus 2.1 billion euros more on integrating new arrivals in 2017.

Germany remains one of the key destinations for thousands of refugees and migrants, mainly from Syria and Afghanistan, who have come to Europe since the start of 2015.

Some 280,000 refugees came to Germany in 2016, compared to 890,000 arrivals in the previous year, according to the German Interior Ministry.

Last year, the number of asylum seekers in Germany fell sharply to 186,644 due to what Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere described as a closer cooperation between migration officials and security services.