The number of people in Sweden treated for gunshot wounds soared 20 per cent in 2018 and has more than doubled compared to 2012.
The statistics from the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare patient register show that in 2018 a total of 148 people were treated with gunshot injuries, 26 more than the previous year, Sveriges Radio reports.
According to the board, the statistics do not reflect those who had died as a result of gunshots and died at the scene of the shootings.
Anders Östlund, chief physician of trauma and emergency surgery at Karolinska University Hospital in Solna, commented on the growing trend, saying, ” You get a very short warning and they require quite a large amount of resources. For the most part, these patients end up in an intensive care unit and perhaps in an operating room fairly immediately.”
Head of the Trauma Center at Karolinska University Hospital Lennart Adamsson added, “We don’t see everyone here, because many die before they come here. These are more violent acts of aggression. We can get an alarm, but they never come because they are already dead on the spot. That has changed.”
Last year also saw a record number of fatal shootings in Sweden, with Stockholm police expert Gunnar Appelgren describing the situation in the country as being like a state “at war”.
Head of the Swedish Security Service (Säpo) Anders Thornberg commented in July saying that the level of shootings was unlikely to reduce in the near future and could last several more years at least.
Thornberg likened the problem to drug trafficking, saying it was impossible to solve the problem overnight.
Many have speculated as to the reasons for the rise in overall violence, particularly among those involved in criminal gang activity.
Swedish criminologist Manne Gerell has claimed that the surge in violence among gang members can be traced to changing social norms in which criminals are constantly trying to one-up each other.
“In order to make money and to establish oneself in that environment, you need to practice some violence or at least experience it. When some people start using automatic weapons, explosives, or hand grenades, the others must follow,” Gerell said.