In the upcoming year, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser aims to advance the proposed tightening of gun laws. She emphasized the importance of moving forward with the gun law reform in the new year,” said the SPD politician to the Funke Media Group newspapers (Friday). “It would be irresponsible to only resume this discussion after another terrible act of violence.”
Following the New Year’s Eve riots and the uncovered coup plans of a Reichsbürger group, Faeser had already presented an internal draft for tightening gun laws in January. The Greens generally welcomed the initiative at that time, which has not yet been submitted for cabinet approval. The FDP, as the third coalition party, took a contrary stance. Their deputy parliamentary leader Konstantin Kuhle argued in September that before making further changes to the laws, the arms authorities in the federal states should first be better equipped to enforce existing laws.
“We must set a clear stop sign.”
The minister now advocated for her proposals once again. In response to the events of the last New Year’s Eve, the draft law provides stricter rules for blank-firing guns. “We have already witnessed how police officers and emergency personnel were threatened with blank-firing guns,” Faeser warned. “We have the obligation to protect our emergency forces who risk their lives for all of us on the streets and save people in need. For the same reason last January, I proposed imposing a minimum of one year imprisonment for perpetrators who lure police officers and emergency personnel into dangerous ambushes,” the minister said. “Here too: we must set a clear stop sign.”
Regarding gun laws, Faeser also mentioned the rampage with seven fatalities in a Jehovah’s Witnesses community in March in Hamburg. From such serious acts of violence, “we know that we need stricter and more rigorous checks,” she said. “We must ensure that in the presence of indications of a person’s dangerousness, gun permits are not even issued or are revoked in a timely manner.”
