Media report
Faeser insists on tightening gun laws
Nancy Faeser: “I am not prepared to wait for further horrific acts of violence before we act.” photo
© Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
The Interior Minister has so far met with opposition from the FDP with her plans for stricter gun laws. She used the shooting rampage in Hamburg a year ago to appeal to the liberals.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has appealed to the FDP to tighten the regulations To no longer stand in the way of gun rights and at the same time signal a willingness to make concessions. “I am not prepared to wait for further terrible acts of violence until we act,” the SPD politician told the newspapers of the Funke media group against the background of the Jehovah’s Witnesses shooting in Hamburg-Alsterdorf a year ago.
“My draft for a reform of gun law has been available for more than a year. We urgently need to make progress here,” warned the minister. The FDP has so far rejected any changes to gun laws and is instead focusing on better enforcement of the current law.
The FDP has had the draft for over a year
Faeser had already presented an internal draft for tightening gun laws in January last year after the New Year’s Eve riots and the exposed coup plans of a Reich citizens group. “I am willing to compromise if the core is preserved,” she said. “And this core is not to issue permits at all or to consistently withdraw weapons if the psychological suitability is lacking or if dangerous extremists are at work.” It is also in the interest of hunters and sport shooters that weapons do not end up in the hands of highly dangerous violent criminals. The draft law from the Ministry of the Interior also provides for stricter rules for blank firearms.
On March 9th last year, a man broke into a Jehovah’s Witnesses community center in Hamburg and shot more than 100 times. He killed seven people and himself. Faeser told the Funke newspapers: “I was at the crime scene shortly after the crime. I will never forget the conversations with the brave police officers who prevented something even worse, and with the emergency doctors and rescue workers.” , she said. “We must do everything we can to prevent such acts of bloodshed.”