We bought our gun on Facebook, from a policeman

Greenland has a strong hunting culture and, as such, high gun ownership. In the late summer, Greenlanders head for the fjords to hunt reindeer, ptarmigan, muskox, and, on the east coast particularly, polar bears, for which guns are also essential protection. Guns are carried for bear protection more so only in Arctic Canada and Svalbard. In Svalbard, guns are so much a part of life that you are, in fact, expected to walk into a bank wearing a balaclava and carrying a gun.

In Greenland, gunshots are commonly heard near town in the late spring and early summer, as people ‘shoot their guns in’, which means to test and, if necessary, adjust the sight, and have a few rounds of practise. This is usually done in places that are easy to get to, but also a little way off the road so as to be out of the way, which is nice. So there are a few spots around Nuuk that double as both picnic areas and informal shooting ranges. As a result, my son’s favorite activity while on picnics, is to collect spent cartridges. It keeps him going for hours. We have hundreds of them in jars at home.

Having been in Greenland for more than two years, we are eligible to apply for a reindeer hunting licence. In preparation for this, my husband bought a high-powered rifle. He bought it on Facebook, from a policeman. After the purchase, he thought he ought to drop by the station to get a gun licence. The police laughed and sent him away. There is no requirement for a licence to own a gun in Greenland. There is, however, a requirement to have a licence to hunt, to control and record numbers of reindeer and muskox killed in the hunting season.

Though it can be a little disconcerting for the uninitiated, guns are so common in Greenland that generally noone is too bothered to see people carrying them. A friend related the story of a scene at Nuuk airport, which could not have occurred in many other places. Two men sat together in the passenger waiting area, one holding a gun case in his lap. Mid conversation, he opened the case and took out the rifle to show his friend, clearly proud of his recent purchase. As they admired the weapon, noone so much as batted an eyelid.