According to Danish police, several people were killed in a shooting incident in a Copenhagen shopping centre on Sunday. They claimed to have detained a 22-year-old Danish man and that an “act of terrorism” could not be ruled out.

Denmark is known to have some of the strictest gun laws in Europe, as opposed to a country like the United States.

Also read: Copenhagen shooting: Police say gunman acted alone, likely not ‘act of terror’

The numbers from GunPolicy.org reveal Denmark’s cellar-low rate of gun deaths, with less than two individuals killed by weapons for every 100,000 Danish citizens from 1998 to 2011. In contrast, the United States had a rate of little more than 10 gun deaths per 100,000 citizens in 2013, which makes sense given how much larger the stockpile is – America ranks first in the world in gun ownership, whereas only 12 out of every 100 Danes own firearms.

Anyone who wishes to lawfully own a gun in Denmark must be licenced, pass a background check, provide a cause for needing the firearm, and be recorded in law enforcement records to ensure that everyone’s guns are counted. In comparison to the NRA‘s systems in the United States, it’s a terrifying nightmare scenario.

Also read: Police confirm several deaths at Copenhagen shooting near Harry Styles concert venue

Copenhagen was placed first in the fourth edition of the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Safe Cities Index (SCI) in 2021, with Toronto coming in second and Singapore coming in third.

The index rates 60 cities worldwide based on 76 characteristics divided into five categories: personal, health, infrastructure, digital, and, for the first time, environmental security.

Copenhagen Mayor Lars Weiss stated in the report, “One key factor that makes Copenhagen such a safe city is its low crime rate, currently at its lowest level in more than a decade. We focus greatly on early intervention with preventive initiatives. Many of these are led through locally based cooperation between schools, youth clubs, social services and the police – the so-called SSP [schools, social services, police] system.”

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“Copenhagen is also characterised by great social cohesion and a relatively narrow wealth gap. It is a mixed city where both the cleaning assistant and the CEO meet each other at the local supermarket and have their kids in the same school. This is one of the very cornerstones of Danish culture, and it contributes greatly to the high levels of trust and safety that we benefit from,” he added.

The Sunday shooting incident happened across the street from a venue where Harry Styles was set to play as part of his ‘Love on Tour’ that night. Following the incident, Styles expressed disbelief and conveyed his love and prayers to his Danish fans. His show, which was scheduled to begin at 8 pm local time, was officially cancelled by the direction of local authorities, although a previous report by the PA agency stated that the concert was to go ahead as scheduled.

The attack follows a horrible shooting in neighbouring Norway last week, in which a lone shooter killed two people in Oslo.

The most current Danish Security and Intelligence Service report classifies the terrorism threat to Denmark as “serious,” with “militant Islamism” being the greatest worry.

Also read: Harry Styles ‘shocked’ by Copenhagen mall shooting, sends ‘prayers’ and ‘love’

Right-wing extremists represent a “general” threat to Denmark, suggesting that they have the talent, motivation, and potential strategy.

The last militant event in Denmark occurred in 2015, when a lone shooter shot and killed a man outside a culture centre hosting a free speech debate, and then shot and killed another person outside a Jewish synagogue in central Copenhagen.

The shooter was killed in a gunfight with police.