When you get around to talking about German 'gun-control'....it's a curious topic and there's an entire listing or law to cover the national requirements. The 'Weapons-Act' of 2002 has simplistic rules and thought put into the scope and reality of weapons in Germany.
Paragraph five concerns reliability. To get around to first base.....you cannot have been convicted of a crime or imprisoned within the past ten years.
Paragraph five also concerns your past demonstration of trust. If you've shown the tendency to improperly or carelessly store or handle weapons or ammo....you don't qualify for a permit.
Paragraph five also says that if you've shown a tendency to oppose common order in Germany over the past five years.....you cannot receive the card. If you've shown a tendency to be involved in conflicts outside of Germany over the past five years.....you cannot receive the card. If you show the tendency to support acts contrary to German foreign policy.....you won't receive the card.
All of this leads back to the local police station in your district and they have a great deal to say about your getting a card.
Paragraph six covers your personal fitness factors. If any issues exist for you to be legally incapacitated....you won't get the card. If you are dependent on alcohol or intoxicating substance (legal and illegal drugs), then you won't get the card. If you are mentally ill, you won't get the card. If you are mentally retarded, you won't get the card.
Self-endangerment? Oh, that figures into this as well.
The local cops can call upon your personal doctor, and request evidence to support the request for a card, or deny you the card because of health issues.
All of this leads eventually to the training phase. Without the final certification and testing piece.....you don't get the card.
Rights? It's more of the case that you will prove yourself worthy of the responsibility of the weapon. An American would argue that the right outweighs all other conditions. The German would argue that you need to reach a certain level before you are handed responsibility.
Under the German system.....if you are drug-user or heavy drinker.....you will never get the weapons card, period. If you behaved in public in some fashion where your trustworthiness is called into question.....the card would be in jeopardy. If you tried to apply the German method to the American public.....my general guess is that a third of the gun-owners in America would fail the drug-user issue or their drinking habits would be called into question on the platform of trustworthiness.
I should note too....as part of the application....you have to prove you have a one-million-Euro insurance package.
Finally, there is one interesting requirement when you come to apply for the card.....you need to have lived in the district or region for five years. The rule generally says that the card can be denied if you do not meet the five-year rule.....but the local folks could overlook that fact. It is an interesting piece to the whole package.....meaning you need to show some stability in your life and settled down to a degree. If you were a guy on the move and continually packing up.....well.....they could deny you the card gun just based on that fact alone.
Yeah, it's not simple if you look at the German method.
Most Americans wouldn't appreciate the details of the German package, and would say they infringe upon the rights of an individual. The German would counter that argument by saying they don't allow guns in the hands of nuts, drunks or dopers. The American would say that there's too much crime going on and he wants to feel protected. The German would probably agree with the amount of crime and say the rules ensure that scumbag threatening you and your family.....ought to be shot.....but only by a legit guy who isn't drunk, wasted, doped-up or crazy. The German would add that he'd do the job with one single bullet instead of five or six rounds that the American would fire, and if you tested the German at his local range.....you'd find that he's not joking.
Just some humble words over the idea of German gun control.
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