More and more people in NRW are applying for a small gun license. This year there is already a new record. However, many gun licenses are also confiscated.
Düsseldorf (dpa/lnw) – In NRW, more people have already applied for a small gun license this year than in all of 2021. According to the Ministry of the Interior, the number was 189,478 applications as of August 31. Last year it was 181,072. This is the highest level since 2012.
As can be seen from the state government’s response to a small inquiry by the AfD in the state parliament, the numbers have been rising steadily for ten years. With a small firearms license you can carry alarm or gas weapons in public. You have to be at least 18 years old for the small gun license. The competent authority checks the reliability and the “personal suitability to carry a weapon”, as stated on a police information page.
So far this year, 884 applications have been rejected (2021: 608), according to the paper from the Ministry of the Interior to the state parliament. Permission to carry a blank gun was revoked in 3,031 cases this year.
According to crime statistics, there were 637 cases in 2019, 401 cases in 2020 and 270 cases in 2021.
