Fear of refugees committing crimes have led Austrians to go on a spending spree for firearms, according to an Austrian news report.

Headlined “Austrians are arming themselves with guns”, the OE24 report says the wave of refugees arriving in Austria has led to record sales for gun retailers.

Sales of weapons have surged abruptly with 70,000 more firearms sold so far this year than the same period last year, the report said.

“Nearly all shotguns are sold out because you don’t need to have a firearms permit to buy them,” Thomas Ortner, spokesman for gun retailers in the state of Upper Austria, said.

“Registration courses for pistols are usually held only every five weeks but are now held weekly.”

Upper Austria with 157,000 firearms is only the third-ranked state for firearms. No 1 is Upper Austria; its 250,000 weapons have 66,000 owners, the report says.

Austria was already the most armed country in Europe. Arms retailers report it is noticeable that many women are buying firearms. Austrian households have more than 900,000 weapons. The country’s population is 8.5 million, the report said.

Österreicher decken sich mit Waffen ein