Norwegian police only used their guns twice last year — and they missed both times
Norwegian police only used their guns twice in 2014, and both times they missed the suspect they were shooting at, The Washington Post reports. It was the 10th time in 12 years that not a single person was killed in Norway by police gunfire.
While gun ownership is common in the Scandinavian nation, Norwegian cops rarely carry firearms on their person. Even in 2011, when terrorist Anders Behring Breivik murdered 69 at a youth camp, police only fired their guns once, injuring one — and Breivik himself surrendered to the police without them firing their weapons.
The comparison to the United States is stark, even considering the differences in population — 318 million, as compared to Norway's five million. As of July 7, 585 individuals have been killed by police in the United States since the start of 2015, according to numbers kept by the watchdog organization Killed By Police. The Washington Post's count is currently 487.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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