The Danish legislation concerning firearms is very restrictive and only shotguns and airguns are permitted without a licence. During the 10-year period from 1957 to 1966 there were 643 fatalities by firearms in Denmark; 83 percent were suicides, 10 percent accidents and seven percent criminal homicides. These fatalities comprised 5.9 percent of all suicides in Denmark, 0.3 percent of all fatal accidents and 18.6 percent of all criminal homicides. Illegal firearms were used in 149 of the 643 cases. In Denmark there are about four homicides using firearms a year and only one or two of these are committed using illegal firearms.