defense industry
Federal Ministry cancels participation in US arms fair
A billboard in Arizona, USA, advertises machine gun shooting at a shooting range. photo
© David Becker/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
In the United States, gun violence is sad everyday life – research now reveals that weapons from German manufacturers often play a role. The Federal Ministry of Economics draws conclusions from this.
According to media reports, the Federal Ministry of Economics organized and partially financed a stand for German companies at the world’s largest firearms fair in the USA for decades – and is now stopping. “There will be no new federal trade fair stand” at the “Shot Show” in Las Vegas, a ministry spokeswoman told the Berlin “Tagesspiegel”.
Research by “Tagesspiegel” and ZDF “Magazine Royale”
The ministry was reacting to joint research by the newspaper and the ZDF “Magazine Royale” to support the federal government for German exhibitors at the arms fair. According to the ministry, this has lasted since 1998 with the exception of 2021.
According to the research, the exhibiting companies were selected by the trade fair association of the German economy AUMA, the operative business on site went to an external service provider, to which the exhibitors had to pay a participation fee. According to “Tagesspiegel” information, the Ministry of Economics and the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA) took over the final accounting.
45 percent of school massacres with weapons from European companies
The exhibitors are said to have only transferred a partial sum to the service provider, the ministry is quoted as saying “participation price”. The federal authorities paid the rest, as the newspaper writes, citing several people familiar with the processes.
The research of the newspaper and the ZDF program deals primarily with the business of European arms manufacturers on the US market. One of the largest pistol producers in the United States is the Sig Sauer company, whose holding company is based in Emsdetten, Münster, and which, according to its own statements, donated half a million dollars to the US gun lobby association NSSF in 2020. According to the report, 45 percent of US school shootings involved guns from European companies.