The Icelandic police purchased ISK 16 million (USD 120,000, EUR 106,000) in guns over the past ten years, as revealed in a reply to a request for information on Iceland’s stock of weapons and the carrying of them by police by MP for the Left-Greens Katrín Jakobsdóttir.
The document provided by the Ministry of the Interior shows that since 2004 Iceland purchased the following weapons, worth ISK 16,461,838: 85 Glock 17s, 42 MP5 submachine guns, 7 Blaser rifles, 6 HK G36 assault rifles, 2 Remington shotguns, 2 gas rifles and 1 Mossberg rifle.
Most guns are kept in the capital, or 113 of 240, while the others are distributed around the country. Nineteen guns are kept in 11 police cars while the Icelandic Police’s Special Forces Unit, which is called out in serious cases, has access to a larger variety of weapons.
Issues concerning weapons in Iceland have been widely debated in recent months after it was revealed last year that 250 MP5 submachine guns had been sent to the Icelandic Coast Guard from the Norwegian Armed Forces.
