Last I heard it was something like 6, but I've honestly been avoiding all the reporting on this. Right after incidents like there, there is so much misinformation going around I think I'm going to wait before consuming all the news that's being thrown around.
I wouldn't be surprised if they were legally obtained. That's the part that blows my mind. Right now, people can legally obtain a militia worth of guns, but people don't want to discuss whether or not it's too easy for people to get their hands on them.
Can't seem to understand the logic.
I'm the current owner of 6 firearms myself (5 shotguns, 1 varmint rifle), at least for now as I have no permit and have to turn in 4 of them for destruction by the local police's firearm department, but I know most of the requirements my dad had to go through to obtain them. I don't believe he should have passed the psychological test in the last 10 years or so but some people are bound to slip through. Either way over here you can only legally acquire a limited range of firearms through either first obtaining a hunting license or alternatively through sports-shooting club membership. The latter requires a minimum attendance at the shooting range but I'm not sure on the exact amount. It's quite frequently though, you can't just sign up at a shooting club and occasionally go here and there.
Both require a bunch of theoretical and practice classes, followed by an exam for both categories. In the case of shooting clubs, these requirements are passed by the shooting club itself. You also need to pass a background check and a medical review to determine if you are capable of owning and handling a firearm. Then the governor will decide if you are eligible for a permit. You can pass both exams and still be refused at the end of the day. When you do get your permit, there's an annual fee on it as well as a provincial tax in most provinces. Any guns legally purchased have to be electronically monitored. You can do a private sale but the office of the provincial governor has to sign off on it so it's gonna end up in the database whether you legally buy it from a store or a private individual.
There's a couple other conditions as well. For example, anyone over the age of 18 who resides in the same house as the individual trying to acquire a permit can block the process. If your wife doesn't want you to have a permit for example, she has legal authority to block the husband from doing so and vice versa.
If an individual has been forcibly committed to a psychiatric facility, any firearm permit application will be denied on the spot.
If all members of the individual's direct family don't sign off on the permit application, it'll be denied.
On top of that, your permit has to be renewed every 5 years. In the case of shooting club permits, there's an annual check-up as well. If you don't meet the annual requirement for a shooting club firearm permit you'll lose it and your firearm(s) will be confiscated.
Personally I believe our system works pretty well considering how loose it used to be before the 2006 shooting spree in Antwerp. I know a number of older individuals (hunters) with firearms that I know are unregistered because there was no real database pre-2006 but it is what it is. The point is that you now have to go through quite a lot of steps to acquire a permit in the first place and to hold on to it. The electronic database was a great step in the right direction in my opinion as well.
I don't believe guns are inherently problematic. Again, Switzerland is the prime example of a wealthy country that comes closest to the US' guns per capita rate, has relatively loose regulations and they have relatively little problems resulting from the huge amount of guns amongst the population or the regulations. I can't exactly recall more than just a few instances of mass shootings in Switzerland and its gun crime in general isn't even very high. I'd have to check but I'm pretty sure ours is higher.
Switzerland does an excellent job in educating its population about guns and allowing a healthy gun culture to flourish rather than a toxic NRA-type stranglehold. It's the proof that you can have tons of guns per capita without really being problematic. Their model is something all nations with many firearms should strive for.
