In autumn 2020, the federal government tightened the gun law with the 3rd Gun Amendment Act.
In practice, however, the law only affected a few gun owners.
The transition period for weapons that are now banned ends on September 1st.
Munich
- The District Office Ebersberg is still processing the applications. On September 1, 2020, the 3rd Arms Amendment Act came into force. Since then, the clerks in Ebersberg have issued 43 so-called notification certificates so that gun owners can legally keep their existing guns. In addition, a gun salute was surrendered and a gun ownership card was entered for one. "Many advertisements arrived after the media drew attention to the expiry of the deadline," says spokeswoman Evelyn Schwaiger. "Since then, the number of inquiries has also increased."
In order to make it more difficult for terrorists to gain access to weapons and in the light of numerous attacks, the EU tightened the Firearms Directive in 2017. With the 3rd Arms Amendment Act, the federal government implemented the tightening in Germany a year ago. Since then, certain firearms and parts of weapons, such as the housing or bolt carrier of fully automatic weapons such as assault rifles, have been banned. “Large magazines” with more than 20 cartridges for handguns or ten cartridges for long guns are also considered prohibited items.
The transitional period during which the firearms in question can be approved or handed over with impunity ends on September 1st. The following applies: Anyone who already owned the weapon or magazine before June 13, 2017, receives a special permit. Weapons acquired later are destroyed by the State Criminal Police Office. A little more than 1.1 million weapons are currently registered in Bavaria. The Ministry of the Interior does not yet have an overview of how many weapons were surrendered in the course of the tightening.
However, the district offices notice the additional effort.
“The amount of work involved in filing applications and notifications has increased considerably,” says the spokesman for the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district office, Wolfgang Rotzsche.
“Information by telephone has also increased.” Three weapon parts and 49 weapons had been handed in for destruction by last Friday, as well as two large magazines.
The Weilheim-Schongau district office anticipated a flood of inquiries with an information sheet that was sent to all gun owners.
This includes: the new NWR ID number.
"There is a unique 21-digit identification number for every weapon, every license and for every person in Germany," explains spokesman Hans Rehbehn.
No weapons were handed in in Weilheim, "but five large magazines".
The weapons of hunters and riflemen do not fall under the tightening. The plans for the 3rd Arms Amendment Act nevertheless caused displeasure. The mountain riflemen also felt they were under general suspicion and were being bullied. “We got into the line of fire. The mountain rifleman does everything in public, never in secret, ”says Martin Haberfellner today. The governor of the mountain riflemen from Kochel (Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen district) was one of the critics of the new regulation. He emphasizes: "For us, it was above all important that Paragraph 16, which regulates the acquisition, possession and carrying of weapons for the purpose of cultivating customs, remains untouched."
In addition, the mountain riflemen were able to prevent so-called non-firing decorative weapons from being equated with live weapons by law. An important point for the young members, says Haberfellner. Mountain riflemen are neither allowed to buy ammunition for their traditional weapons nor to shoot without an order from their company. "That makes us comparatively harmless." Mountain riflemen can live with the Arms Amendment Act in its current form, he says. "One can argue about whether the law makes sense."