After a major raid on Reich citizens: debate about stricter gun controls in the district

Created: 01/13/2023 05:22

By: Laura May

Reich citizens arm themselves: A few years ago, several firearms were discovered during a raid in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The security authorities register an increasing willingness to use violence among the supporters.

© dpa

After the major raid on Reich citizens, the debate about stricter gun controls also reached the district of Munich.

District – After the nationwide raid against the so-called Reichsbürger network, which had allegedly planned a violent overthrow of the system, the question arises to what extent the Reichsbürger scene is also active in the district of Munich.

And above all: What danger do they pose?

What are the authorities doing?

Between 2016 and 2019, ten sympathizers of the anti-state movement had their gun permits revoked - this is how the district office informed the Munich Merkur.

Two Reich citizens were caught in 2020 and 2021 with firearms for which they did not have a gun license.

No concrete numbers

How many people in the district are associated with the movement is unclear, since the figures for the city and district of Munich are collected together.

The Office for the Protection of the Constitution has been monitoring the Reich Citizens' Movement nationwide since 2016 - since then 866 people with possible Reich Citizenship connections have been reported, 397 people were actually assigned to the Reich Citizens' Movement, reports the Munich Police Headquarters.

They reject the FRG

The Reichsbürger are a heterogeneous group that is best known for printing their own passports and not wanting to pay taxes.

They reject the democratic rule of law.

German Reich instead of Federal Republic - that is the idea on which all supporters can agree.

On other issues, the movement has fragmented into many small groups whose ideologies range from monarchism to esotericism to Holocaust denial.

Originating in the 1980s, the movement has become increasingly visible and violent over the past decade.

Most recently fueled by the pandemic, which additionally fueled the Reich citizen rhetoric against the state.

The armed supporters of the Reich citizens are an increasing security risk, as the nationwide raid in December showed.

Stricter controls

In response, Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Hermann (CSU) has now called for stricter gun controls - since 2016, more than 900 firearms have been seized by Reich citizens in Bavaria alone.

In order to know more precisely how great the threat really is, more consistent controls are needed.

In Bavaria, the district offices, as the weapons authorities, are responsible for checking registered gun owners.

"With the regular checks, the safe storage of the weapons should be randomly checked both on suspicion and independently of suspicion (even without reasonable doubt)," according to the district office.

In 2022, a total of 83 registered controls took place.

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District Administrator Christoph Göbel (CSU) does not want to comment on possible tightening of controls before there are instructions from the federal or state government.

However, should there be a change in the weapons law, the district office would need more staff to cope with the additional work, according to the district office.

During the checks, specialists from the Lower Weapons Authority drive to the registered home address of the respective gun owner and check the condition of the gun, its storage and the gun owner's card.

4046 Gun Owners

According to the district office, the number of gun owners in the district has declined slightly in recent years.

According to the National Weapons Register (NWR), 4,046 people were registered as owners of a domestic weapon or a domestic weapon part in the Munich district (as of November 2022).

On the same date, a total of 25,487 privately owned domestic weapons were stored.

Paragraph 4 of the Weapons Act regulates who is allowed to have a weapon in Germany.

Applicants must be of legal age, have the required reliability and personal suitability, provide evidence of their expertise and need, as well as liability insurance of one million euros.

The most common registered weapons are:

Long bolt action firearm: 6540

• Short semi-automatic firearm (overall length less than or equal to 60 centimeters): 6448

• Single shot rifled barrel(s) long firearm(s): 3815

• Short bolt-action firearm (overall length less than or equal to 60 centimeters): 3375

• Long Single Shot Smoothbore(s) Firearm(s): 2743

• Semi-automatic long gun (magazine can be changed): 1133 lm

More news from the district of Munich can be found here.