PA Bill Number: HB829
Title: In preliminary provisions, further providing for definitions;
Description: An Act amending the act of April 12, 1951 (P.L.90, No.21), known as the Liquor Code, in preliminary provisions, further providing for definitions;
Last Action: Signed in House
Last Action Date: Jul 3, 2024
Germany sees huge rise in number of weapon license applications - with insecurity caused by huge migrant influx blamed :: 01/17/2019
Germany has seen a huge rise in the number of applications for firearms licenses in a phenomenon which is being blamed on insecurity over the country's migrant crisis.
Following the release of figures showing there had been a nine per cent increase in gun license applications in 2018, leading politicians expressed concern at the increased potential for deadly shootings.
As of December 31, 2018, some 610,937 citizens had been issued licenses, equating to a jump of 53,377 gun permits over the past year.
Left Party domestic policy expert Ulla Jelpke blamed Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and other 'right-wing agitators' for whipping up citizens into a frenzy of fear over the numbers of migrants arriving into Germany.
'The increase is a result of the panic created by law and order politicians like Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and right-wing agitators like the AfD [Alternative for Germany],' Jelpke said.
While figures within Germany's police force warned that those buying guns could soon be 'turned into criminals' because of the sheer number of gun-holders in the nation.
'Such weapons give a false sense of security as well as an increased willingness for self-defense. But both those facts could lead to an escalation of the current situation, eventually turning gun owners into criminals,' Police Union (GdP) Chairman Oliver Malchow, said.
However, the majority of the permits applied for by Germans are in the 'basic' category, meaning small, nonlethal guns.
Most commonly these are rubber bullet-firing gas pistols and flare guns.
Germany's basic weapons license requires an applicant to be of adult age as well as being personally and psychologically fit. Lethal weapons are not readily available in Germany.
The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA Network), said that 0.9 Germans per 100,000 died of gun violence in 2016.
