Despite having strict gun controls in place already, the German government is planning on introducing further gun control measures. Currently, an average of around 155 people are killed every year by gun shots in Germany.

Gun controls set to get stricter in Germany

Following the shooting in Hanau in February 2020, calls for tighter gun controls in Germany have been getting louder and louder. The shooter, known as Tobias R., was able to obtain firearms, despite being diagnosed with paranoid delusions in 2002. He legally owned three guns, and borrowed another from a gun trader, before going on to fatally shoot nine people, as well as his mother, before turning the gun on himself.

A spokesperson for the Interior Ministry has since confirmed that a draft bill is being drawn up that will see stricter gun control laws put in place, including more detailed background checks that authorities must undertake before issuing or renewing a gun licence. For instance, the new law will allow gun licence authorities to check with doctors and other relevant healthcare professionals whether applicants have a history of mental illness.

Germany has consistently tightened its gun control laws after mass shootings. Following a school shooting in Erfurt in 2002, the age limit for gun ownership was raised and, after the Winnendon mass shooting in 2009, random spot checks were introduced to ensure guns were being stored properly.

Germany also adopted the EU firearms directive into German law, last amending it in 2020. Essentially, this obliges authorities to check whether the applicant is a known extremist with a domestic intelligence agency. Authorities in Germany have also been obliged to check whether registered gun owners have a legitimate need for a firearm. A legitimate need could be that the owner is a member of a shooting club, or has a valid hunting licence.

Mental health experts call for psychological testing

Dietmar Heubrock, a professor of forensic psychology at the University of Bremen, argued that health authorities don’t always have a complete record of an individual’s mental health history. "Do we even have the right procedures to recognise the potential psychological dangers that might develop in later life?" he asked. "Let's say I already own a gun and then hit a personal crisis — my livelihood gets taken away, and I start developing violent fantasies: I want to avenge myself on society, and I want to go out and kill everyone I see. No health authority would know about that," he noted.

Heubrock has suggested developing psychological tests that would-be gun owners would be required to pass before they are given a gun licence. "The current tests are 20 years old, and any test, whether it's an intelligence test or a personality test, has to be re-standardised after a time." Green party MP Marcel Emmerich has thrown his support behind this idea, even suggesting that all applicants be required to pass a psychological evaluation, not just those under the age of 25.

However, the German Shooting Sport and Archery Federation (DSB) has raised doubts over the collection of sensitive health information, questioning the legality of such a practice and whether someone without medical expertise and qualifications will be able to interpret the data properly. "For example, an official in a regulatory authority can surely not judge whether an entry in a health file is even relevant to weapons law," said DSB spokesperson Thilo von Hagen.

Resistance against new regulations

There has been some resistance to the newly proposed gun controls, particularly amongst the 1 million people who legally own firearms in Germany. The German Hunting Association (DJV), which has over 250.000 members, has argued that there is no problem with current gun laws in Germany, instead blaming the implementation of the laws. "Hanau could have been prevented," said Torsten Reinwald, the DJV spokesperson. "The facts were on the table: It was known that this person was mentally ill, but no action was taken. If the authorities had been better connected, this person could've been pulled out of circulation. That's the basic problem. To make new demands now — they're just “placebos", nothing more."

Reinwald stated that spot checks by German police constitute “a severe intrusion of personal freedom.” However, historian Dagmar Ellerbrock argued that owning a gun is a privilege, not a basic right. "It's a privilege," she said. "A privilege granted to certain people. And whoever wants to be granted this privilege has to qualify for it."

There are also concerns over privacy, especially over the collection of sensitive health data. Emmerich has acknowledged that the data is sensitive but has assured people that this will be taken into account in any new laws. "The challenge is handling data responsibly, but also ensuring that certain people don't get their hands on weapons," he said.