Small arms license © Oliver Killig
More and more people in Germany own a small firearms license, according to a survey. Were 2014 still 260.000 citizens entitled to carry a firearm, the number rose to about 640 by the end of June this year.000.
This is reported by the Dusseldorf "Rheinische Post" (Tuesday) with reference to its own survey of the interior ministries of all 16 federal states. In the past twelve months, the number had increased by about nine percent compared to the same period of the previous year.
According to the report, Schleswig-Holstein has the highest ratio of gun license holders to the population, with 9.6 licenses for every 1.000 inhabitants and in Saarland with 9.2 licenses highest. In NRW, there were 1.000 inhabitants around nine Kleine Waffenscheine. However, the 7.1 percent increase in the most populous state was below the national average, it said. According to the report, a total of 30. June in NRW 162.952 small arms licenses registered.
Police: "Latent sense of insecurity" among the population
The police union (GdP) spoke of a "latent feeling of insecurity" among the population. "At the latest since the events on the Cologne Cathedral Plateau on New Year's Eve 2015, more and more people apparently feel insecure," said union chairman Oliver Malchow to the "Rheinische Post" with regard to the mass sexual assaults on women at the time.
"The problematic increase in small firearms licenses shows that we must work to restore a sense of security to many citizens," Malchow said. An important first step would be more police presence on the streets.
According to the data, there are a total of around 5.4 million weapons of various categories in private ownership in Germany. That is around 66 weapons for every 1.000 inhabitants. In this statistic, NRW is in first place with 49 weapons per 1.000 inhabitants significantly below the national average. In contrast, in the Saarland, for example, 1.000 residents 108 weapons.
A small firearms license entitles the holder to carry a gas, alarm or signal weapon. Applicants must be of legal age and are checked by the police for their reliability and suitability to carry a weapon by obtaining information from, among other sources, the Federal Central Register and the Public Prosecutor's Register.