Thuringia: Thuringia's interior ministry wants to disarm extremists

The weapons authorities in Thuringia should withdraw firearms from extremists - or not even allow them to be bought.

Thuringia: Thuringia's interior ministry wants to disarm extremists

The weapons authorities in Thuringia should withdraw firearms from extremists - or not even allow them to be bought. This could also affect AfD members.

Erfurt (dpa/th) - The Thuringian Ministry of the Interior wants to prevent extremists from owning guns in the Free State. Since the constitutional protection in the country classifies the AfD as right-wing extremist, its members could also be affected by the initiative, the ministry announced on Wednesday. "We only implement applicable law. We cannot and do not want to stop at the AfD," said Interior Minister Georg Maier (SPD).

The chairman of the CDU parliamentary group in the state parliament, Mario Voigt, reacted in the affirmative. "This is an important initiative by Interior Minister Georg Maier and the Office for the Protection of the Constitution," Voigt wrote on Twitter. "You have the full support of the CDU parliamentary group in Thuringia. Together in the fight against violence and extremism."

According to the Weapons Act, which has been in force for two years, extremists can no longer be regarded as reliable. You may not own or purchase weapons. In order to be able to implement this, a working group on "weapons and extremists" of the security authorities concerned should be established at the Thuringian state administration office, it said. This will support the authorities in processing the cases. The "Spiegel" and the MDR had previously reported.

In recent years, the weapons authorities involved have already proven that they can successfully disarm extremist gun owners from the "Reich citizen scene". According to the Ministry, the procedures for the withdrawal of the so-called weapons license (59 cases) or the rejection of an application for a weapon license (13 cases) have now been definitively completed in 72 cases. None of these individuals are in possession of firearms that require a permit. In addition, 16 other people who are considered part of the "Reich Citizens' Scene" had their gun permits revoked.

So-called Reich citizens doubt the legitimacy of the Federal Republic of Germany. Some of these groups refer to a self-defined "natural law", others to the historical German Empire. Many of them claim that the Federal Republic is not really a state, but a company. They do not recognize laws and authorities and sometimes violently resist government measures.