From: "E.J. Totty", [EMAIL PROTECTED]
On a local firearms list, the question has arisen
about the status of private ownership of firearms in the
German Republic.
Invariably, the questions are how many and
what type of firearms may you possess, and ammunition,
and what about carry for protection? Easy? Hard? Impossible?
Can you help with this?
--
Germany has pretty tough gun laws, licensing, registration,
secure storage and so on. Their club probation for handguns
is a year, and hunters have to undergo very serious training
before getting a license.
They also have a law which bans anything with the appearance
of a prohibited weapon, which means you cannot have a semi-auto
AK47 as it looks like a full-auto AK47. But you can have an
AK47 with a "sporterised" appearance, thumbhole stock etc.
If you go to the H&K website and look at the SL8 rifle you will
see what they had to do to make the G36 assault rifle legal
in Germany. I am a bit vague on whether it is legal to put
a high-cap magazine in them. I think not, although high-cap
mags themselves are unrestricted. The SL8 itself cannot take
G36 mags, and they made yet another version called the SL8-1
for the US which has a completely different mag. well. The
SL8 itself can be easily modified to take G36 mags but I'm
told that's illegal.
In addition, if you want to buy a deactivated machinegun for
example, it has to be disassembled, otherwise it has the
appearance of a prohibited weapon.
In Germany they have a seperate license for carrying a handgun
for self-defence, but they are virtually never issued and anyone
who holds one has to have large amounts of liability insurance.
They are usually only issued to bodyguards for VIPs or VIPs
themselves.
Germany is a large country and there are regional variations in
the way licenses are issued. There has been a big stink in Berlin
recently because the police there are being awkward with license
holders because of the right-wing protests there.
When you buy a gun you have to take it to the police station to
have it recorded on your license, but if you have a hunter's license
you don't have to do this, they appear to trust you more. Hunters
can also have up to two handguns for humane destruction.
Germany doesn't have a downconversion law like we do, so there are
people converting handguns into air pistols and things like that.
I get the strong impression that licenses are easier to get in
the south of the country as there are more gun shops. You don't
need a license for an airgun or a deact but most everything else
needs one.
Steve.
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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