It's probably not front-page news, and I doubt if any German journalist will hype up the story....but there is this odd story out of Austria.
For 2015, there's been a record rate of weapons bought for the year. What the government will generally say is that the public perception of increased crime and immigration....have gotten some folks to be a bit worried, and they've purchased guns to make up for this worry.
The Austrian government will admit that roughly 900,000 weapons are stored in Austrian houses....with the population at 8.5 million.....that means one out of every ten weapon hold a weapon.
For 2015 so far? Seventy-thousand firearms have been sold....with two months left to go.
I sat and read up on Austria. They have this nifty rule about shotguns....they don't require a license....so it's fairly easy for someone to go out and buy one.
According to a Focus article, the gun shops have a growing number of women who've shown up and want a training course. All this new enthusiasm for weapons have caused more classes to be put on the schedule.
German trends? Unknown.....the government isn't saying much. I suspect this is a statistic that Germany would prefer not to discuss.
2 comments:
My pen pal tells me that there are not guns allowed in Germany and is under the impression that no one there carries. I wonder that this can be true because some weapons have to exist for there to be gun crimes.
Gun ownership is allowed in Germany....but there's this 'filter' that exists. First, you get a note from your doctor saying you are physically and mentally able to handle responsibility like this. Mental nutcase or taking meds....your doc probably won't sign the paperwork. So you take that to the local gun club in the village or a gun shop....to sign up for classes. You can figure at least 150 hours minimum. They want you to be able to clean the gun and take a first-aid class in the midst of this classroom time. You do a background check with the cops as part of the whole deal. So at the end....you get permission. But you have to own a gun storage closet or bin....with a key lock, and ONLY one key. The cops can come by and ask you to show the closet/bin at any time and you must have the key on your person (not in some desk drawer). I would say a fair number of German hunters do exist with hunting weapons...not so much for pistols. I would say in rural areas, probably a quarter of all guys have some type of hunting weapon in their house and have the permit for such.
Post a Comment