The number of small weapon licenses in Germany has more than doubled since 2014, the German editors' network (RND) reported on Friday.

The interior ministries of Germany's 16 federal states had registered a total of 599,940 small weapon licenses by the end of October 2018, which is an increase of about 130 percent over 2014, when only 261,332 such licenses were issued.

Joerg Radek, deputy head of the German police union (GdP), reacted with concern to the figures and told RND that "we must be careful not to allow ourselves to get American conditions in Germany."

A spokesperson of the German Gunsmiths and Arms Dealers Association (VDB) told Xinhua that "people do not seem to feel safe. An ordinary citizen wants to protect himself legally."

In Germany, small weapon licenses entitle the holder to carry gas guns, blank guns and flare guns. The small weapon license was introduced in 2003.

The new figures confirm the upward trend in the number of registered firearms in Germany. At the end of 2017, the number of small weapon licenses was still 557,560, according to a government response to a parliamentary inquiry by the Green Party.

A spokesperson of the Green Party has warned that "more private weapons do not create more security -- on the contrary, they have the potential to escalate conflicts into violence."