According to a media report, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) wants to significantly tighten gun laws. According to information from the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (Monday), a draft law from the Ministry of the Interior provides for a ban on particularly dangerous semi-automatic weapons for private individuals.
The newspaper reports, citing the 48-page paper, that blank pistols and crossbows, which are particularly common among “Reich citizens”, should in future only be available for a gun license.
The draft law should go to the other departments at the beginning of the week. The coalition agreement from the end of 2021 had planned to review the gun law changes of the past few years, but gave hardly any details about possible changes. Faeser’s plans are likely to trigger a dispute in the governing coalition, reports the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. The FDP reject a tightening. Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) wants to apply existing laws more strictly instead.
According to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, security authorities consider the widespread use of semi-automatic firearms similar to war weapons to be particularly threatening.
According to the report, 225,000 of them are circulating in Germany, 60 percent of them privately owned. The type of weapon has been used time and again in amok and terrorist attacks around the world, such as the attacks in Utøya in Norway and Christchurch in New Zealand. The private ownership of fully automatic weapons is already banned in Germany.
The Ministry of the Interior wants to tighten the rules in general, reports the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. In the future, every new gun owner should submit a medical or psychological certificate of their own suitability at their own expense. So far, this has only applied to particularly young buyers under the age of 25. (epd)
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