Prior review required
Lindner slows down Faeser’s gun law reform
01/13/2023 9:02 p.m
Federal Interior Minister Faeser wants to tighten the rules for carrying weapons. Federal Finance Minister Lindner and the FDP think little of the initiative. They lack countermeasures against illegal weapons in Faeser’s plan. They are also asking for an investigation.
According to a media report, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner has slowed down the tightening of gun laws planned by Interior Minister Nancy Faeser. The “Spiegel” reported that his ministry had lodged an objection to the draft law, which means that it could not go into the departmental vote for the time being. The Ministry of Finance is therefore calling for a comprehensive review of the existing regulations and gun law changes over the past few years.
When asked about the report by AFP, a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior said that the draft law has been “in preliminary coordination with the Federal Chancellery and the coalition partners” since this week. This is “usual before the initiation of the formal departmental coordination”.
Faeser’s draft envisages a ban on semi-automatic weapons similar to military weapons for private individuals. The so-called small gun license should also be required for owning a crossbow. There should also be tightening for alarm guns. At the same time, the controls for issuing gun licenses are to be tightened.
Hunting and rifle associations react negatively
Representatives of Lindner’s FDP consider the tightening to be unnecessary and instead call for better implementation of the previous restrictions. The reform is also opposed by hunting and rifle associations. “Spiegel” from the Ministry of Finance reported that only after reviewing the previous changes to the gun law can it be assessed whether further laws are necessary or whether the enforcement of existing rules simply needs to be improved. If the evaluation reveals weaknesses, the Ministry of Finance will support projects to remedy them.
According to reports, the liberals are also bothered by the fact that Faeser’s proposal only refers to legal weapons. According to “Spiegel” from Lindner’s ministry, however, the handling of illegal weapons must be checked above all. In order to be able to assess a possible need for reform, better statistics are also needed here.