Foreign Affairs

Foreign Country Where Mass Shooting Occurred Has Strict Gun Laws

Håkan Dahlström/Wikimedia Commons

The gunman responsible for a Krakow, Poland, mass shooting that killed six Saturday was still able to acquire the firearm used in the attack, despite a strict licensing scheme.

The gunman, who fired an AR-15 from a vehicle and later engaged police in a shootout, died from his wounds Monday, according to BBC News. The gunman earlier had obtained a firearms license, Agence France-Presse reported.

Poland has very stringent licensing requirements, according to BZ Academy, a firearms instruction establishment based in the country. In order to get a license, a person must pass a criminal background check, but also undergo medical and psychological examinations, including from an ophthalmologist while also demonstrating a good reason to acquire a given firearm.

The police can determine how many firearms you can own, and to have a gun for personal protection, one must demonstrate “constant, real and above-average threat to life, health or property – for a firearms permit for the purpose of personal protection, persons and property,” according to the 1999 law enacted by the Polish government.

The Supreme Court invalidated New York’s “good cause” requirement for concealed carry permits, which was a standard similar to the one Poland uses for gun licensing, in June 2022 in a 6-3 ruling in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen. Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, who authored the court’s opinion, cited historical gun laws and the debate around the ratification of the 14th Amendment as reasons New York’s law was unconstitutional.

As a member of the European Union, Poland follows guidelines imposed by the European Commission. A 2017 revision urged members of the EU to make acquiring modern semiautomatic firearms, often labeled as “assault weapons,” harder.

“[S]emi-automatic firearms with a fixed loading device allowing a high number of rounds to be fired, as well as semi-automatic firearms in combination with a detachable loading device having a high capacity, should be prohibited for civilian use,” the directive states. “The mere possibility of fitting a loading device with a capacity exceeding 10 rounds for long firearms and 20 rounds for short firearms does not determine the classification of the firearm in a specific category.”

Some government officials in Poland have discussed further tightening the country’s gun laws in response to the shooting, UA News reported. Polish Deputy Defense Minister Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka reportedly questioned whether firearms should be so easy to acquire and in large quantities, while Polish Deputy Interior Minister Czesław Mroczek suggested that the country may regulate black-powder firearms in response to the attack.

After a December 2025 attack at Bondi Beach carried out by people associated with the terrorist group calling itself the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced plans for a mass confiscation of firearms from law-abiding gun owners in response, seeking to limit the number of guns license holders could own.

The government’s response to the Krakow attack has come under fire after Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński initially claimed the shooter was “fascinated by far-right ideologies,” but later backed off the claim following criticism from the mayor of Krakow and when social media posts showed the gunman embracing left-wing political causes.