The leader of Spain's far-right Vox party says that Spaniards should be allowed to possess firearms and use them for self-defense without legal consequences.

In an interview published Wednesday by a website specializing in weapons, Santiago Abascal says that "the concept of legitimate defense needs to be widened" in Spain.

Abascal is Vox's candidate in the upcoming general election on April 28. He has bragged in the past about carrying a handgun himself because his family was for years a target of the Basque militant group ETA.

The 42-year-old politician says laws should allow those without criminal records to have a firearm at home and use it to face "real life-threatening situations."

Official statistics show that Spain's rates of homicide and burglary are lower than most of its European neighbors.