Record number of gun licences issued in Poland in 2025 as privately owned firearms pass 1 million

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

A record 50,709 new gun licences were issued in Poland in 2025, up 10.6% compared to a year earlier. Meanwhile, the total number of registered firearms owned by Poles has now surpassed 1 million, up from around 380,000 in 2014.

The figures continue a rise in gun ownership that accelerated in particular after Russia’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in 2022.

The total number of permits issued in Poland now stands at 411,769, according to police statistics. That is more than double the figure of 192,819 in 2015. The total of 9,783 licences that were issued in 2015 is also less than a fifth of the number recorded last year.

Polacy zbroją się na potęgę. Mamy już milion sztuk broni w domach, liczba pozwoleń pobiła rekord https://t.co/yI7HIql9TD

— Forsal.pl (@forsalpl) February 10, 2026

The rise in gun ownership particularly accelerated in 2022. That year, 37,402 new permits were issued, up from 19,939 in 2021, an increase of 87.6% year-on-year. In the weeks after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Polish shooting ranges saw a sharp rise in visitors.

“The interest in weapons stems to some extent from the fears of people who see what is happening in the east [Ukraine],” Tomasz Kwiecień, president of the Polish Sports Shooting Association (PZSS), told the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.

“Politicians and military officials are saying that maybe in a year, maybe in three years there will be a war, so many people want to know how to use a gun, just in case,” he added.

In recent years, Poland has also suffered a serious of so-called “hybrid actions” carried out by agents working on behalf of Russia, including sabotage and arson attacks.

Under Polish law, civilians can apply for licenses for sporting, hunting, collecting and personal protection purposes. To obtain one, applicants must undergo medical examinations, pass a test, and join a relevant association, such as the PZSS, the Polish Hunting Association, or a collectors’ group.

Licenses for sports and collection purposes are the most popular types of permits, together making up 76% of last year’s licenses. But the number of licenses issued for “personal protection” has grown from just 81 in 2021 to 7,254 last year.

Access to firearms widened in 2023, when parliament passed a law removing “unnecessary administrative and legal barriers.” The law allowed members of uniformed services to apply for personal protection permits, a change lawmakers said was intended to “strengthen Poland’s defence potential”.

The health ministry in 2024 also simplified the appeal procedure in cases where licenses are denied on medical grounds.

Poland’s justice minister has issued an explanation after being pictured carrying a gun in his belt during a press conference and wreath-laying ceremony – a highly unusual incident in a country with relatively low gun ownership https://t.co/kKKH4GiKRh

— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) March 13, 2023

Calls to liberalise the rules further have so far come mainly from the far-right opposition Confederation (Konfederacja) party, which has created a parliamentary committee for firearms possession.

However, the centrist Poland 2050 (Polska 2050) party, which is part of Poland’s ruling coalition, has led recent calls to restrict civilian access to guns. It wants to introduce mandatory regular medical and psychological examinations for people in possession of licensed firearms for hunting, sport, and training purposes.

In 2017, Poland had an estimated 2.5 civilian firearms per 100 inhabitants, the lowest rate in the European Union, according to Small Arms Survey, a Geneva-based research project.

The Netherlands and Romania registered the next lowest rates, each with 2.6 firearms per 100 people, while Finland led the EU with 32.4 firearms per 100 inhabitants, followed by Austria (30), Cyprus (29.1) and Malta (28.3). More recent data are not available.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.