Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) – In the weapon ban zones that were set up a year ago in Cologne and Düsseldorf, the police have since secured around 350 items such as knives that fall under the ban. This happened in almost 17,200 checks, the NRW Ministry of the Interior announced on Wednesday. This means that a weapon came to light in about every 50th check.
Since December 2021, the old town of Düsseldorf, the Cologne Rings and Zülpicher Strasse in Cologne have been gun ban zones at certain times. “I am shocked by the naturalness with which some people carry switchblade knives and batons,” said NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU). He rated the establishment of the zones as a success.
There were 231 seizures in Düsseldorf and 118 in Cologne. These included butterfly knives, daggers, one-hand knives, switchblade knives, pocket knives, irritant spray devices, batons, blackjacks, stun guns, irritant weapons and signal weapons.
The no-gun zones were set up after numerous bloody knife attacks on the entertainment miles. The Ministry did not say how the number of violent crimes with weapons and the number of victims in the zones has developed since then.
