Following this week’s mass shooting at the Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in the northern city of Hamburg, a discussion has arisen in Germany regarding the efficacy of the nation’s gun control legislation.
German national Philipp F., 35, a former member of the congregation, went on a shooting rampage on Thursday night and murdered eight people in addition to himself.
The crime’s motivation is still a mystery, according to the authorities.
Police unexpectedly visited the suspect’s home after receiving a report that the perpetrator may have psychological problems, but they gave him the all-clear.
On Saturday, several German politicians demanded urgent reviews of restrictions on weapons ownership, including Marcel Emmerich, the interior affairs expert of the Greens Party in parliament.
“This terrible act has shown that legal gun owners can use their guns to do bad things in this society,” Emmerich told public broadcaster NDR Info. “Fewer guns in private hands ensure more public safety.”
At present, Germany requires only those under 25 to undergo medical or psychological assessments before being granted a gun license, which another Greens Party lawmaker, Irene Mihalic, told the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND) was “more than questionable.”
“As firearms are dangerous to life in the wrong hands, all applicants should be required to provide such reports, regardless of age. Appropriate aptitude tests should also actually have to be repeated at regular intervals,” she added.
Sebastian Hartmann, the interior spokesman for the Social Democrats (SPD) in parliament, told the RND that any change to the law governing the possession of firearms must reinforce the ability to seize them and enhance the sharing of information regarding their owners.
Other politicians wanted to prevent a hasty response, arguing that the law is already robust enough.
“Mentally ill persons are not allowed to possess firearms. It is good and right that the weapons law already unambiguously regulates this today,” Konstantin Kuhle, deputy chair of the business-friendly FDP parliamentary group, told the German news agency DPA. Therefore, “hasty demands for legislative consequences” are “not necessary,” he added.
