In Spain there are 1,436,865 licenses and authorizations for weapons and only 4% of them correspond to women, with a total of 58,818, according to data from the Statistical Yearbook of the Ministry of the Interior corresponding to 2023. In the Canary Islands, the number of licenses reaches 21,572 with a total number of 46,703 weapons.
According to Interior Ministry figures, the total licenses in Spain cover 2,671,016 weapons, of which 620,301 correspond to Andalusia, ahead of the 256,041 in the Community of Madrid, 239,734 in Catalonia, 236,354 in Castilla-La Mancha and 236,264 in the Valencian Community.
Of the 2.6 million weapons covered by licenses, 1.9 million are shotguns and other long firearms with smooth bores with a shotgun stamp and that are not included among weapons of war, as stated in the Yearbook.
Next are the 392,578 that are rifled firearms, used for big game hunting, ahead of the 166,512 weapons for sport shooting and the 87,558 revolvers and pistols with licenses. Also, 37,793 muzzle-loading weapons are authorized.
Almost 4,000 are antique or historical firearms, reproductions or assimilated, kept in museums authorized by the Ministry of Defense if they are dependent on any of the three armies, or by the Ministry of the Interior in the rest of the cases.
Half of the licenses for people between 50 and 69 years old
Practically half of the licenses correspond to people between 50 and 69 years old (around 346,000 for the age group between 50 and 59 and almost 340,000 for those between 60 and 69 years old).
This age group is followed by those between 40 and 49, with a total of 270,276 licenses. The number of authorizations for people between 70 and 79 years old is also considerable (almost 185,000), while almost 40,000 correspond to those over 80.
Between the ages of 14 and 17, licenses reached 4,343 at the end of last year, while between the ages of 18 and 29, authorizations to own a weapon were 92,195 and between the ages of 30 and 39, 159,961 were counted.
Weapons destroyed or scrapped in 2023
In 2023, 90,014 weapons were irreversibly destroyed and scrapped.
It was done either because the owner deposited them for that purpose, or because a year of deposit had passed and the owner had not given them any of the legally foreseen destinations, or because two years had passed since the deposit made by a legal entity, or because it was ordered by a judicial or administrative authority.
And more were destroyed in Catalonia, with 21,495, followed by Andalusia (12,609) and the Valencian Community (11,358).
Also, last year 132,060 weapons were deposited by individuals, either due to death, revocation of the license, denial, extinction, etc. Another 39,191 were deposited at the disposal of the court and 18,625 at the disposal of the administrative authority.
