Reuters: Stringent Gun Control Failed to Prevent Alleged Attacker Shooting, Killing Six in Germany

Reuters noted Friday that Germany’s stringent gun control failed to prevent the attack which resulted in the deaths of six innocents and the alleged shooter the previous day.

According to Reuters, Germany’s “anonymous tip-off” law was triggered in January, when authorities received a call warning the 35-year-old would-be attacker was showing “suspicious behavior.”

Police officers visited the individual’s home on February 7, 2023, but were not persuaded that he posed a threat to himself or anyone, nor that he was suffering from mental illness.

Moreover, the officers “inspected” his gun license–a gun license is a pre-requisite to legal gun ownership in Germany–and there were no problems. The 35-year-old’s gun and ammunition were also stored in compliance with Germany’s gun control laws, with the exception of “one projectile,” which was promptly placed inside a safe.

The University of Sidney’s GunPolicy.org observed that Germany’s gun controls are categorized as “restrictive.” In addition to license requirements for gun ownership, would-be gun owners must pass a background check that looks at “extremist affiliations, criminal, mental health, and addiction records.”

Reuters noted that the alleged 35-year-old attacker “had no criminal record or any links to terrorism prior to the attack that would have automatically prevented him from owning a gun.”

In addition to the “anonymous tip-off” law, universal background checks, and licensing requirements for gun owners, Germany also has limits on the number of guns a licensee can legally own. The law allows one gun per license, and licensed owners are only allowed to possess ammunition that matches the particular gun they own.

Germany requires that all guns be registered with authorities and licensed gun dealers “are required to keep a record of each firearm or ammunition purchase, sale or transfer on behalf of a regulating authority.”

Six innocents were shot and killed at a Hamburg Jehovah’s Witness Hall Thursday around 9 p.m., despite Germany’s stringent gun controls.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. AWR Hawkins holds a PhD in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.