Police Raid

 Pretty weird police raid in Ulm (far south of Germany) yesterday. What the police say (via SWR public TV)?

Four-hundred police involved from around the region.  

Seventeen apartments and a wooded area searched.

Weapons and Wehrmacht uniforms (modern costume situation of the 1930s/1940s German Army) taken as part of the raid process. 

Total of 19 men and women (ages 27 to 77) under investigation.

Accusation?  With the weapons involved, there is a belief of the violation of the War Weapons Control Act (Kriegswaffenkontrollgesetz), and illegally recreating war 'gaming' in the wooded area.

This weapons act?  Basically, if you hold a actual weapon of war (not your regular pistol, hunting rifle or shotgun), then you have to be certified and highly 'controlled'.  I should note, you still have to be licensed for the pistol/hunting rifle situation, but the weapons act goes up a full step or two on control.  

The illegal part of the 'gaming'?  If you read through social media and try to dig up the discussion here....it leads to this being state-controlled woods, and they needed some kind of permission to have a group meeting like this.  Course, if you'd said this was all WW II related....the authority would have denied permission.  

So were these actual WW II weapons (meaning operational)?  No one really says that.  If these were simply non-functional replicas?  Well....the police and prosecutor will look highly foolish, and I seriously doubt that you hear another word via the German public news media.    Is there anything illegal about non-functional replicas?  No.  

The uniforms?  If you look around....costume companies readily sell WW II outfits so you could buy it.

The problem here....everyone is all hyped-up about far right-wing activity, so even if you had some weekend-thrills group of Germans....running around the woods in some play activity with fake WW II uniforms, and holding non-functional weapons...folks get disturbed by this sort of thing.  

It'd be a lot more healthy to get these folks to some environmental weekend event....smoking some weed, and hyped up against the coal industry, a new autobahn, or anti-nuke chatter.