Some 20,000 Maltese own guns, two thirds of whom insist firearms should be regulated by the Government rather than the EU, according to figures compiled by Eurostat.
The study, carried out last month, highlighted Malta as the country most in favour of sovereign state gun control.
Some 65 per cent of the 505 local interviewees felt the Government should decide on the issue alone, followed by Lithuania (64 per cent) and Romania (61 per cent).
This clashed strongly with the EU average as more than half of all combined respondents believed in a singular legislation on firearms.
Malta and Germany had the most respondents, 66 per cent, who did not agree with stricter gun sale regulations.
Men are eight times more likely to own guns than women
Not surprisingly, more than half of Maltese gun owners said they used their weapon for hunting, well above the EU average of 35 per cent.
Just over a third said they used it for target shooting, 10 per cent higher than the EU average.
Men were eight times more likely to own guns than women and twice as many people living in rural areas owned a firearm than those in urban localities.
Only two per cent said they owned one for personal protection, significantly lower than the EU average of 14 per cent. Despite this more Maltese respondents felt guns were involved in crimes than the EU average.
Some 43 per cent of Maltese said the incidence of gun crime was very high, six per cent more than the EU average. Last month a man was shot dead in Kalkara after by his daughter’s ex-partner during an argument. This followed another shooting in an attempted armed robbery in August when a taxi driver was shot in the face through a car’s windscreen. Another man was injured by the same shots fired.
Some 78 per cent of Maltese respondents agreed with cooperating with neighbouring EU countries on gun crime investigation.
Majority of gun owners support Government regulation rather than EU control. Photo: Shutterstock