German Gun Control

[sfc_darrel]

Excerpts from "Bundestag passes tighter law while gunman strikes"

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,3-280168,00.html
AS A 19-year-old lone gunman carried out the worst school shooting in Europe since the Dunblane massacre in 1996, the German parliament approved a new Bill tightening the country's already strict gun laws.

In the wake of recent incidents, Germany's politicians wanted stricter rules for owning guns, securing them and giving more legitimate reasons for wanting to own one.

Shooting clubs usually require members to have been registered for two years before they can apply for a police permit and to be over the age of 21. A 19-year-old would not be allowed to own either a handgun or a pump-action shotgun. Yet Germany's conscription system means that many of such an age are trained to use firearms.

In previous shootings at schools in Germany, the weapons were mostly the property of hunting fathers, who kept their weapons at home in secure cabinets that require a police inspection at least once a year. To qualify for a hunting permit, you have to be a farmer or a member of a registered shooting club.

"According to police statistics, only 0.004 per cent of armed crimes are committed with a legally obtained firearm," said Joachim Streitberger, head of the Weapons Rights Forum, a group representing legal weapons owners.

Police estimate that 95 per cent of the ten million legally registered weapons are held in gun clubs or by farmers.

The Bundestag voted on the new measure just after the deadly shooting spree took place in Erfurt, but the crime did not figure in the debate as the news had barely emerged.

Under the law passed by the Lower House, owners of airguns, which still shoot potentially deadly small pellets, must now carry a licence.
(that's 4 in every 100,000)

[Keith_Hixson]

Does that mean:

Gun control is a pipe dream?

Keith

[sfc_darrel]

And the people who believe in it are smoking some really strong stuff in their pipes.

[sfc_darrel]

But news of Heise's heroics will do little to quell the angry questions of how a disgruntled teen-ager had been legally allowed to obtain the weapons and ammunition with which he calmly murdered teachers, classmates and a policeman.

Steinhaeuser, who had recently obtained a gun license and was a gun club marksman, shot many of his 16 victims in the head at close range, police said.

There are 10 million legally held weapons in this nation of 82 million people. Police said Steinhaeuser had licenses for both weapons and for two more that he was not carrying.

Interior Minister Otto Schily conceded that despite its tough gun control laws, which require among other things for applicants to pass rigorous exams that can take up to nine months, there might be a need for further restrictions.

"We need to look into the question whether an applicant's character is reliable and there is a genuine need for the applicant to have a weapon," he said.

In a sign that the bloodbath may feature in the campaign for national elections this year, Schroeder's conservative rival Edmund Stoiber, said violent video games like those police said they found in Steinhaeuser's home should also be banned.

"We have to take a tougher line against those who peddle these sorts of 'killer games'," said Stoiber.

"These computer video games are like an invitation to run amok," said Konrad Freiberg, leader of Germany's police union.

But the head of the country's little-known gun lobby, known as the "Schuetzenverband," warned against over-reaction.

"It first needs to be determined how these weapons got into the hands of this assailant," Josef Ambach told German television.
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20020427_288.html

[sfc_darrel]

Anti-gun Nuts Lie to Exploit German Massacre

The anti-gun-rights activists are eager to exploit the school shootings Friday in Erfurt, Germany - and don't care how many lies they tell.

Coalition to Stop Gun Violence has denounced this latest "chilling demonstration of the carnage caused by the flood of illegal weapons," United Press International reported today.

How curious that Horwitz was so impatient to use the massacre to advance his own anti-self-defense agenda, without checking the facts.

As Reuters and other left-leaning news organizations reported two days ago, the Erfurt killer had licenses for his weapons.
http://www.newsmax.com/showinsidecov...02/4/29/193146

[sfc_darrel]

BERLIN - A bill to tighten German gun laws after a school shooting in which 17 people died cleared its final legislative hurdle Friday, raising the age for legally owning a firearm for recreational use from 18 to 21.

The measure, which gained unanimous approval in the upper house of parliament, also outlawed pump-action shotguns and raised the minimum gun-owning age for hunters from 16 to 18.

Government and opposition politicians pledged the restrictions after an expelled pupil stormed through his former school in the eastern city of Erfurt in April, gunning down 16 teachers and students before turning the gun on himself. Friday's vote follows approval last week by the lower house of parliament.

Robert Steinhaeuser, 19, held licenses for the pump-action shotgun he carried into the school as well as the pistol that police say he used to gun down his victims and then turned on himself.

Steinhaeuser was an active member of a local gun club, though club officials said they noticed nothing strange about his behavior before he embarked on one of the world's worst school shootings.

Under the new law, all shooters under age 25 except hunters will have to present a doctor's note confirming their mental suitability.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...any_gun_laws_2

mental suitability? Glad I don't live there.