Alright…since nothing interesting has happened for the past few weeks except one half-baked killing spree and the attempt to eradicate child pornography by simply adding „disallow : child pornography“ to all German firewalls I decided to do another English language rant today…

In the context of the Kretschmer-case one question frequently popped up among people outside Germany: What’s the deal with German gun control?
So here is the German gun control laws explained in a nutshell…or a nutshell casing if that floats your boat ;-)

1. No citizen may bear arms in Germany. Period. No right to defend oneself with a firearm etc…
2. There are very few exceptions to the rule:

1. A member of a (sports!) shooting club who has proven quite some skill may require a pistol/rifle of his own to further improve his skills.
The process is then fairly simple. The person in question must have been a member of the said club for a while and his marksmanship must not only be at tournament level but must be at a level that could be beneficial for the club’s ranking in national tournaments. If that applies, the club must formally state that this guy needs to be able to train whenever he pleases and not just whenever a club-owned gun is available for training and hence needs his own weapon.
Furthermore, this guy then needs to pass the „Waffensachkundepruefung“, an examination leading to a certificate proving he knows where the business end of a gun is, how to lock and load and how not to kill an innocent bystander on the shooting range…
Once both the club’s statement and the said certificate have been issued, he can apply for a „Waffenbesitzkarte“ WBK for short (weapon ownership card) which is issued by the local authorities. Unless they consider him a threat to all mankind he then will be the proud owner of a WBK.
With this, one is allowed to purchase a reasonable amount of weapons and ammunition of the stated type, i.e. if you’re ratified for pistols, you can’t buy 7,62mm FunMetalJacket, but 9mm Paranoid will be just fine…
You can’t buy a shitload of them, but over the years one can accumulate quite an arsenal, as Kretschmer’s dad seems to have done…

The law also requires you to stash them away in a certified „Waffenschrank“, usually a safe-like metal compartment bearing varous DIN and TUEV labels..they come in various flavours and grades…“Langwaffen“ meaning „long weapons“ = rifles…so one has to make sure to have one of those installed in one’s home prior to purchase…
The law furthermore requires one to have the ammunition stored in a secure place „elsewhere“…either in another secure compartment within the „Waffenschrank“ or in another secure place…

Just FYI: Keeping a weapon locked and loaded at your bedside is perfectly illegal here…Kretschmer’s father plainly violated the regulations, the case is not a question of the gun control laws but more one of having them properly enforced…

2. The second exception is a hunting license. The laws are basically the same except that you will be ratified for „Langwaffen“ rather than for pistols…except for the sidearm maybe…but that’s it

3. Full-auto weapons are illegal in Germany, unless you are a soldier or a cop

4.One is never allowed to carry your weapon in a ready-to-fire state. It must be unloaded and in a secure casing, separated from the ammunition….if you think you’re in need to defend yourself at any time, you will have to apply for a „Waffenfuerhungsgenehmigung“, another governmental permit issued to plain civilians only in very rare cases of threat…usually you’d have to be a policeman, a security guard or a soldier to get one of those…

Alright, hope that rant clarified things a bit…

cd

Ähnliche Einträge:

  1. Stuttgart 21 – Die neue Revolutzergeneration – Alles Weicheier?
  2. Musical chairs – How the Germans do politics – Part I
  3. The Germans: What yodeling has to do with Pearl Harbor
  4. How Germans do politics part II – Severe cases of “der Brain”
  5. How Germans do politics part III – musical chairs and Der Brain