A gunman opened fire at
a shopping mall in Denmark capital Copenhagen on Sunday killing three people
and injuring four. Police have arrested a 22-year-old suspect. Sunday’s
shootout has sent tremors down the spine of ordinary Danes for whom shootings
are rare unlike in the United States. The shooting has also triggered a debate
on gun laws in the United States and other parts of the world.

On Sunday, Maxmillian
Von Renteln was “just outside” the Field’s shopping centre when he heard gunshots,
he told the BBC. Renteln first struggled to imagine that these were indeed
gunshots. But when he saw people running out of the mall, he too began running
and boarded a bus.

Also Read | Does Denmark have gun control? Copenhagen shooting sparks debate on gun laws

Just as he and others
were escaping in the bus, armed police walked in and asked everyone to put
their hands in the air. They went to the back of the bus and found a man with a
backpack. They searched the man and found nothing on him and walked away.

This is just one of the
eyewitness accounts that have surfaced of the Copenhagen shootout that has
shaken Denmark. Danish journalist Lone Thelis told the BBC that the mood in
Denmark is one of “shock and great sadness”.

The Copenhagen shootout
has also triggered a debate on gun laws. Denmark has fairly strict regulation
around guns and people cannot simply walk into a gun shop to buy weapons. Gun
laws in Denmark are regulated by the Ministry of Justice as well as by the
European Commission.

In Denmark, guns have to
be licensed and an applicant for a gun needs to establish a genuine reason for
procuring a gun. Further, civilians are barred from possessing automatic
weapons and semi-automatic guns and rifles. An applicant for a gun license also
needs to go through a background check for criminal history and history of
mental illness.