It would be hard to find someone in law enforcement in the United States who does not carry a gun. And that is not the end of it. Many American police departments get tactical weapons from the federal government, including armored vehicles and assault rifles.
At the far end of the spectrum, in some countries, law enforcement departments rarely issue guns for regular duty. Politics.co.uk reported on the proportion of U.K. police that are armed: “Out of a total police force in England and Wales of 123,171 in 2019, the Home Office previously reported that 6,653 were armed officers (circa: 5.4%).”
The Small Arms Survey’s “Estimating Global Law Enforcement Firearms Numbers” report shows that, in 2017, the global total of law enforcement firearms was 22.7 million. That is only 2.2% of the organization’s estimate of firearms owned around the world. According to the study, “This analysis includes law enforcement agencies responsible for domestic security, especially police, gendarmes, and official paramilitaries.”
While it is hard to understand why some nations have higher law enforcement firearm figures than others, the top two nations ranked by law enforcement firearms are run by totalitarian governments. Russia’s number is 2.432 million, which is 1.7 firearms per hundred residents of the country. China’s number is next, but as a portion of the population, it is much smaller. India, Egypt and the United States round out the top five, which all have an estimated 1 million or more firearms.
These are the 12 nations where law enforcement has the most firearms:
| Country | Est. Firearms | Firearms/100 |
|---|---|---|
| Russian Federation | 2,432,000 | 1.70 |
| China | 1,971,000 | 0.14 |
| India | 1,700,000 | 0.13 |
| Egypt | 1,530,000 | 1.61 |
| United States | 1,016,000 | 0.31 |
| Pakistan | 944,000 | 0.48 |
| Brazil | 803,000 | 0.38 |
| Turkey | 620,000 | 0.77 |
| Mexico | 591,000 | 0.45 |
| France | 497,000 | 0.77 |
| Germany | 466,000 | 0.58 |
| Indonesia | 429,000 | 0.16 |
Click here to see in which country people own the most guns.
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